Rishi Sunak tells baffled primary pupils he dreamed of being a Jedi Knight and flying an X-Wing, loves vanilla ice cream and is a fan of dodgeball during school visit

Rishi Sunak told bewildered primary pupils his ambition was to be a Jedi Knight and fly an X-Wing during a school visit today.

The Star Wars-loving PM gave an insight into his childhood dreams as he chatted to youngsters at the Wren Academy in Finchley, north London.

A slick video released by No10 also shows Mr Sunak revealing that his favourite ice cream is vanilla – and bizarrely admitting to being a big fan of dodgeball.

Facing quickfire questions from a group of year one children, the premier was briefly stumped when asked what he wanted for Christmas – before suggesting ‘a day off’.

Pressed to name his favourite ice cream, Mr Sunak admitted: ‘It’s quite boring.

‘It’s vanilla ice cream. But with chocolate pieces in the middle.’

The Star Wars-loving PM gave an insight into his childhood dreams as he chatted to youngsters at the Wren Academy in Finchley, north London

When one of the pupils mentioned that they liked PE and dodgeball, the PM responded enthusiastically

When one of the pupils mentioned that they liked PE and dodgeball, the PM responded enthusiastically: ‘Oh my God, I used to love playing dodgeball.

‘I haven’t played dodgeball in ages. That’s a lot of fun.’

The children gave teacher, footballer, tennis player and dirt bike rider as their preferred careers.

‘You’re probably a bit young, you don’t watch Star Wars… I wanted to be like a Star Wars character, like a Jedi Knight.

‘Or fly an X-Wing. Have you heard of an X-Wing?’

After the youngsters all replied ‘no’, the PM responded: ‘An X-Wing is a special spaceship in Star Wars and I wanted to fly one of those.’ 

Mr Sunak, whose maths-to-18 plan is a personal passion project, helped the year one class with their arithmetic.

Parents, teachers, pupils and employers are being invited to share their views on the design of the new baccalaureate-style qualification which will eventually replace A-levels and T-levels.

It comes after the Mr Sunak announced students in England will typically study five subjects rather than three under the major reforms.

Under the shake-up – which is expected to take a decade to establish – 16 to 19-year-olds would take a larger number of subjects at both ‘major’ and ‘minor’ level.

The consultation on the Advanced British Standard (ABS) – which was announced at the Conservative Party conference in October – has been launched ahead of the Christmas break.

But more detailed plans and proposals for delivery are expected to be set out in a White Paper next year, the Department for Education (DfE) has said.

Mr Sunak said the new qualification would bring together ‘technical and academic education, increases the amount of time children get in the classroom with great teachers and everybody studies some maths and English – not A-level – up to 18 like every other country’.

A slick video released by No10 shows Mr Sunak being grilled by the year one pupils

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