The Year 1 class at Manorbrook Primary School in Thornbury has been taken over by dinosaurs this term.

They have been learning about the prehistoric creatures as part of their new topic Dinosaur Discovery, and in particular about their ‘local’ dinosaur the Thecodontosaurus.

It was one of the first dinosaur fossils to be discovered back in 1834, in a quarry in Clifton, Bristol.

Part of the fossilised remains of a Thecodontosaurus were also discovered at Tytherington Quarry in 1975.

The Thecodontosaurus, named Theco by the children for short, was approximately two metres long, it had a relatively short neck and long tail.

It had four limbs, shorter arms than legs, with five digits on each.

Theco was an omnivore, it ate the odd lizard, but predominantly lived on a diet of leaves which it chewed with its jagged edged teeth.

Helping to bring the children’s learning to life has been the creation of their very own ‘life-sized’ Thecodontosaurus.

The class also took part in a virtual workshop with Bristol Dinosaur Project, where they were able to share their learning about the local Bristol dinosaur and find out lots more.

In addition, they were able to see and explore fossils from the local area, design their own dinosaurs and question real palaeontologists.

They’re looking forward to finding out more about fossils and the achievements of the remarkable Mary Anning over the coming weeks in class.