“It was awesome [to meet them] and they were losing their minds and going bonkers and going crazy,” Hollywood megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson told the BBC.

The star of Disney’s new live action adaptation of Moana, in which his plays the shape-shifting demigod Maui, surprised pupils from St Gregory Primary School in Sudbury, Suffolk, while on a school trip to London for what they believed was be a standard “old-fashioned” excursion.

Little did they know they would be attending the Moana Experience, an immersive event organised in support of the upcoming adaption of the hit 2016 film, which also stars Catherine Laga’aia in the title role.

Speaking at the event on Tuesday, head teacher Daniel Woodrow said: “For the biggest movie star on the planet to spend so much time with the children… that was incredible, and you could see how excited they were.”