Hackney youngsters learned how reindeers cope with the cold and wrote stories about them delivering presents after a real life one turned up in their playground.

Some children at Queensbridge Primary School in Queensbridge Road, Haggerston, even designed sleighs in design and technology class for the reindeer to pull at the school Christmas fair during which he made an appearance.

Head teacher Sarah Bailey said: “It was really lovely to have reindeer on the playground instead of pigeons.

“Everyone got to see them, cuddle them and feed them including the parents at the end of the day.

The reindeer, also known as caribou, is a deer species native to the Arctic, snorthern Europe and Siberia, where they use a double fur system to shield off the cold, with thick guard hairs covering a woollen underfur layer which prevents icy air reaching their skin.