It all started with a stalk delivering the egg babies – complete with birth certificates - to unsuspecting students, who are looking at attachment as part of their psychology studies.

They were asked to name and personalise their eggs and were also issued with a seven-day diary to detail what they had got up to, helping them to link back to the topic.

Psychology teacher Miss Smith explained to students that their eggs had to accompany them everywhere unless they had arranged suitable childcare, which also helped them to learn about multiple attachments. Staff at TCA joined in, keeping an eye out to make sure the egg babies were being looked after and not left in lockers!

It was an interesting and eventful week for both the eggs and their carers, with lots of adventures as students went about their day-today lives. One egg even had its own Facebook page!

Sadly, disaster struck on day one, with Miss Smith being sent photographic evidence of the remains of one egg that had come to a sticky end. This was followed up with a death certificate!

Miss Smith said: “The egg babies give students a real-life experience of having something to look after and it’s a fun, interesting way to engage them with the topic.

“It helps them to understand parts of the unit and apply it, to see how care giver/infant interactions and attachments are formed. It also allows them to understand the different stages and types of attachment, even to the point of when they have to give the egg baby back.

“This activity gives them something real to think back on and help them to remember the topic when it comes to their exams – they will remember how they felt about their eggs.

“The students have been so enthusiastic – I was constantly getting emails about what they’ve been up to!”

If the eggs survived the week, they could be traded in for a chocolate one.