Kingston schoolchildren created a small piece of history this morning when they buried a time capsule beneath a new restaurant in John Lewis.

The year two pupils at Latchmere School returned to the store to plant a fresh time capsule after three others planted by previous schoolchildren from the school were unearthed by builders working on the £2.5m relocation of the Riverside Restaurant in July.

The shoeboxes, from silver, violet and gold classes, dated back to July 1990 and they will be opened in front of the whole school tomorrow.

Deputy headteacher Jane Johnson was a class teacher when the original boxes were put under the foundations of what was then Calendars Restaurant.

She said: “It was wonderful when John Lewis called and said they’d found them.

“It’s amazing because one of the children who helped plant the boxes, Emily Collett, has just done some volunteer work with us at the school before she goes off to train to be a teacher.

“It’s great that a piece of the school will live on with the new capsule.”

The new capsule has been stuffed with information about life at Latchmere including photographs of the uniform, pictures the pupils have drawn of themselves as well as a book about the history of the school written by former pupil Owen Walter.

Six pupils from Latchmere including six-year-old Iona Wilson were chosen to bury the new capsule.

She said: “It was really exciting to be chosen. I am looking forward to seeing what is in the old boxes."