At Duston Eldean Primary School, Northampton, pupils as young as nine have been learning to play electric and bass guitars and the drums as well as taking the spotlight on the vocals.

Staff decided to introduce the optional music lessons after the October half-term to give pupils the chance to exercise their creative talents and perform classic rock songs such as Johnny B Goode and Wild Thing as a group.

Deputy head Andy Stevenson said: "We wanted to give something different for the pupils outside the curriculum and a skill which they could have for life.

• Click on the green button above to see the young band starting out - we'll be back again in a few weeks to film them again to see how they are progressing

"We looked into the idea of a rock club and got Ronan McCloy, a specialist teacher, to run it twice a week, one for year five and the other for year six pupils.

"Most of the pupils who joined didn't know how to play any of the instruments and have had to learn from scratch. They get to choose an instrument and look at rhythms and beats. They also look at other aspects of a rock band such as designing album covers and writing songs.

"The rock school club also gives them the chance to experience different genres of music. They've only started a few weeks ago.

"Rock bands are something that's associated with secondary school age pupils but we wanted to give our children the opportunity too."