The big match at school defeats the buzz of a busy bar

The sound of screeching children and frenzied teachers from within a school building would have meant trouble on any other day.

But the pupils at Honeywell Junior School in south-west London had arrived yesterday brandishing banners, flags and feisty attitudes in the name of football, not rebellion.

A note with the words "The Match – This Way In" pasted outside the main building explained the whooping and hollering reverberating from the assembly hall. More than three-quarters of the 360 pupils at the school in Battersea and 150 parents had turned out to watch the England v Nigeria game.

Clapping and air-punching erupted as two widescreen television sets were switched on and the young fans were quickly in a state of frenzy only minutes after kick-off.

"The atmosphere is electric in here and nothing's even happened yet," shouted Joe Mitchell above the din. Mr Mitchell, 31, a carpenter from Tooting, decided on a late start to the office to join his two sons, Jo and Arron, at school, and said the atmosphere easily beat the buzz of a busy pub.

The deafening chants of "Ing-er-land" were sometimes drowned by rival bouts of "Ni-ge-ri-a" as the room divided itself into competing camps.

At half time the youngsters, many of whom had arrived wearing England strips and David Seaman wigs (one pupil had borrowed his mother's wig and tied it in a ponytail) made a dash to buy refreshments and burgers at the improvised tuck shop.

Sheila Malone, a nursery nurse at the neighbouring infant school, had come in to take a peek and looked at the crowd of riotous children in disbelief.

"I could hear them from the street outside the school. I'm absolutely amazed by them all. The pubs were packed on the way here but the grown-ups were a lot quieter," said Ms Malone, 41, from Wandsworth.

Daphne Haynes, 48, a florist, who was with her 10-year-old daughter, Ella, was gripped by football fever despite not being a diehard fan. Screaming with dismay when a goalbound Michael Owen shot was deflected, she said she was surprised by the attendance.

Another parent, John Wyver, 47, who works as a television producer, had been urged by his son, Ben, eight, to arrive well before time. "He was standing on the doorstep and ready to go by 6.45am and it's only a 10-minute journey to school," said Mr Wyver.

It may not have been England's finest performance but the deadlock did nothing to dampen the unfettered enthusiasm of the schoolchildren as they counted down the final 60 seconds of the game.

Ben Wyver and his friends, Oliver Bell and Josh Doherty, all nine, approved of the entertainment despite the lack of an England victory. Oliver said: "It's so much better seeing it at school, even though it was too noisy to hear the commentary, because we're all supporting the team together."

Some walked back to lessons a little less euphoric. James Hendrickson, aged ten, who had been shouting for Nigeria all the way, looked disgruntled. "It wasn't the most exciting game I've seen. Just the noisiest," he said.