It was not until eight children from the 10th Oxford Beavers lined up to receive a top award that their leaders realised they were all classmates.

Daniel Ziu, Tilly Gilbert, Matthew Allan, Alex Wickson, Cameron McMichael, Freya Wicker, Dan McEwan and Joey Bowes have received the highest award possible for Beavers, the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award.

There are 28 youngsters in the group.

After months of hard work, which saw them achieve six Challenge awards, the children were presented with their awards by district Beaver leader Sue Springett.

The following Monday morning they were back working hard together again – in their Year three class at St Michael’s School in Marston.

Alex Wickson, seven, from Marston, said: “It’s great fun being in the Beavers with a lot of my friends from my class and we had lots of fun working for our award.”

The Beavers was started as part of the Scouting movement 26 years ago and encourages boys and girls aged six to eight take part in activities including camping and working towards badges.

There are 1,600 Beaver Scouts meeting weekly in Oxfordshire.

Adam Peach, 31, leads the 10th Oxford Beavers. He said: “We were amazed when we realised all eight children were in the same class.

“It's the first time that we've had this many Beavers receive their Bronze Award at the same time and it makes us feel proud to see their great achievements rewarded.”