Pupils from St Ebbe’s School packed their bags this week to be evacuated to the countryside.

But they were separated from their parents for only one day, not the years that wartime evacuees had to endure.

The 90 children were taken from the White House Road primary school in Oxford to Radley Station, where they met villagers ready to take them home, on Tuesday as part of their studies on the Second World War.

Eight-year-old Damien Gronier said: “It felt so real, like we were actually going away from our parents.

“When we got to Radley some people started to choose us to go home with them. I was terrified.”

Gawain Little, a teacher at the school, said: “I think they were all excited about it and a lot of preparation certainly went into it.

“They came to school dressed up and went through the process of being evacuated. Bringing history to life is something this school does well.”

Some 41,000 evacuees were sent to Oxfordshire to avoid German bombing raids on the capital and the pupils got a chance to experience what they went through.