Scraps of metal from an alien spaceship, a mammoth egg and an abandoned getaway vehicle were discovered at a Chiswick school on what was a most mysterious Monday morning.

Amateur sleuths from every year of Grove Park Primary were on the case as soon as they arrived for lessons.

Those in years four, five and six scoured the dumped green VW Polo and surrounding area for evidence whilst wearing rubber gloves.

Their search turned up a red wig, a balaclava, a guide to Paris, lipstick, a mouldy lettuce sandwich, Australian pennies and two umbrellas - leading them to believe they were looking for two suspects.

"Some of us thought it was a hoax," said year six pupil Timo Quallington. "But then it kind of got serious and we realised that it was real."

Cameron Kerr, of year four, was intrigued: "Why would someone just park their car and then chuck all their stuff out and run away?"

Photofits showing what the suspects could look like were drawn by the junior detectives, the police were contacted and a Crimewatch-style recreation was filmed .

An amazing £1,000,000,000 reward is now also on offer to anyone able to bring in the suspected criminals.

At the same time, years one, two and three set about collecting the alien wreckage which was covered in strange symbols.

Gigi McKee, year three, said: "Many of us have never seen anything like it."

Jamie Blackburn, also year three, added: "The whole class thinks that it is an alien spaceship or just a madman who had dropped lots of stuff."

Pupils then carried out liquid experiments which demonstrated that the invisible aliens hanging around the school liked cold orange juice but not hot coffee.

Emergency letters alerting the authorities about the crashed ship were sent to the Queen, Tony Blair and even the Army.

After discussing their findings, children drew their own impressions of what the aliens and their homeland could look like.

Jamie's alien had big fangs, lived in the Australian Outback and ate koala bears for tea. Tarun Howles' creature came from Pluto and was sad because it had been lonely there.

Meanwhile, nursery children tried to get to the bottom of how the massive egg came to be planted in a bed of hay under sprouting broccoli leaves in the school's garden.

By complete coincidence, the investigations were launched at the same time as the school's Philosophy Week, aimed at teaching kids to think about problems and events in new ways.

Headmistress Marion Lee said: "We think philosophy is a brilliant way forwards. It encourages them to debate and justify their own opinion and realise the other people have different opinions."

Teaching assistant Julia Drysdale said: "These events have just sparked up their imagination. It's amazing to see them being so creative."

But, despite hours of investigations, some questions remain unanswered.

Like why do aliens like orange juice? Were the teachers in on it? And, was it all just a hoax? We may never know.