"THIS is a badge from the cap of a Luftwaffe airman," Owen Sharpling, 9, proudly says of his star exhibit which is attracting hordes of spectators.
"My great-grandad found it when he was in service, and it's been passed down the family. I had no idea we had something like this until I told my mum we were doing this project."
Owen is one of the Year 5 pupils at Doddinghurst Junior School who have set up a Second World War Museum in their school hall for the afternoon.
Ration books, an ammunition box, gas masks, photos and letters are among the exhibits, all brought in by the children who have been studying the topic this term.
Dressed as evacuees, nurses, farmers or soldiers, the children have carefully laid out their exhibits on tables, labelled them and acted as curators as the rest of the school take turns to visit.
Later, parents are also invited to tour the museum and watch a demonstration of jiving.
Ellen Neal, 9, has a collection of photographs showing her grandads who were both in the Navy. She said: "My grandad Harry died in a submarine. My other grandad is still alive and still has friends who were also in the Navy. My great auntie was an evacuee and she has told me all about it. It's hard to imagine that sort of thing happening today."
"I've brought in an ammunitions box I spied in my auntie's air raid shelter in her garden," says George Taylor, 9. "It's the only one of its type here. I think it's a really cool exhibit."
Karl Hodges, 9, tries on the gas mask that was fished out of his grandparents' loft. He said: "This one belonged to a soldier. I had no idea we had it. I've really enjoyed this topic, especially what it was like to be an evacuee."
A centre table contains a display of scale model Anderson shelters made by the pupils. Some include intricate gardens, complete with miniature vegetable patches and livestock .
The stand is manned by Lauren Burgin, 9. She said: "We had to make these for homework. I made mine out of Lego as I am always building Lego stuff. It was fun."
This is the third year the school has run the museum as a culmination of the term-long topic.
Sally Lawrence, Class Five teacher, said: "We started the museum in the classroom, but it has just grown, and this year it is the biggest we have ever seen.
"We never know until two days before what we will have as exhibits. Some items are real and some are replicas, but we always get a good range. The children ask their parents and grandparents and are often amazed at what is brought down from the loft.
"The children are really enthusiastic and learn such a lot from this topic."
