Youngsters at a city school took the best ingredients from two cultures to make the perfect recipe for a Shrove Tuesday party.

Children at St Ursula's School in Westbury-on-Trym listened to Brazilian music and made mardi gras masks, then staged a series of traditional English pancake races, with teachers also taking part.

Yesterday's themed events started at the school's breakfast club and continued throughout the day.

They were the idea of senior junior school coordinator Ansti Corellis.

School spokeswoman Helen Glynn said: "It was a very colourful event. Everyone had a brilliant day."

St Ursula's, which teaches 240 boys and girls aged from three to 16, is the city's only independent Catholic school.

The next day pupils were due to mark the start of Lent with an Ash Wednesday mass.

The school's next event is an open morning for parents of prospective pupils on March 21, where mothers will be presented with flowers in recognition of Mothering Sunday, which falls the next day.