Sprowston Junior School turned into a chocolate factory last week, but Willy Wonka and his Oompa-Loompas were nowhere to be seen as the Year 5 children created the magical chocolate wonderland.

The class of children, aged nine and 10, held a whole week of chocolatey activities, inspired by the classic Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The group of six were all given a week to design, market, make and sell their chocolate in an Apprentice-style challenge.

Teacher Caroline Wills said it was the third time she had put on the event after being inspired by teaching the book, with additional aspects from the popular BBC television show.

Mrs Wills said: 'It was brilliant. It was the best it has been over the three years for quality and presentation.'

The children started by designing a questionnaire to establish what people wanted in a chocolate.

They used their results to compare them against current chocolate options, before designing their product within a particular budget.

This then had to be pitched to the headteacher, Janine Wye, who allocated their budget.

The next stage was to create a radio jingle and TV advert for their product, before they made the chocolate themselves.

They even set up a stall to sell their chocolates and they also priced and boxed them.

At the end of the week parents were invited to the school to watch the presentation and Mrs Wills said 40 attended to buy the chocolates.

In total the children made a �40 profit on their venture.

Mrs Wills said: 'The children thoroughly enjoyed the week – they used so many skills from across the curriculum to aid their learning. They really proved themselves to be superb, mature entrepreneurs. I'm so proud of them.'

Are you finding a way to make learning interesting? Contact Local Life editor Richard Wood on 01603 772423 or email richard.wood@archant.co.uk