SCHOOL children sent secret messages using racing pigeons as part of a project to teach youngsters the important role birds played in the First World War.

Elmstead Market Primary School took part in a session run by national educational programme Flying Back to Nature.

The children wrote messages in code and were shown how to attach them to the birds before releasing them into the air.

Project spokesman Donna Beard said: “It gives them a live way of doing it themselves. It is the best way for children to learn.

“It is a good insight for them.

“They learn messages weren’t always sent by text or e-mail.”

When the birds arrive at their destination, the messages will be decoded and sent back to the children.

The project has already visited schools across the country, but is now being launched in this region.