CHILDREN at New Earswick Primary School welcomed a real life pirate into their school this week.

The Year 3 class have spent the last term learning about pirates, and to mark the end of the theme class teacher Kirsty Clayton managed to track down a genuine pirate to talk to the pupils about his life on the high seas.

On Tuesday, pirate captain Hughes and his parrot Ainsley dropped into the school for a hot seat question and answer session and a quiz with students.

The children grilled the captain on his experiences onboard ship, asking him about day to day life, the punishments he had faced while at sea, whether he has ever walked the plank, and the countries he has visited.

After some songs with Captain Hughes and Ainsley, the children then tackled a quiz on flags of the world.

"It was a great way to have some fun, and get some good learning in, at the end of term," Miss Clayton said.