Pupils from three schools ditched lessons to become super sleuths last week.

Children from Thomas More Catholic School in Purley were joined by 60 other kids to try their hands at being detectives.

As part of National Science and Engineering week, they were shown a play about a murder mystery before being asked to investigate a crime scene.

The pupils also tried their hands at flame testing and looked at foot printing and hair identification.

They also took part in interactive presentations by the University of London Observatory and attended a science fair at Fairfield Halls.

The Russell Hill Road school, which was awarded specialist science status in 2005, hosted a 37ft Nova rocket and was visited by two Russian cosmonauts last year. It will soon be offering an astronomy GCSE course.