They have painstakingly built a 55-foot humpback whale from rolls of plastic.

With 16-foot flippers, it stretches the full length of the school's auditorium.

And now the grade five children have been holding classes inside their silver grey creation.

The big project was launched to help the students with their study on whales.

"We decided to build to scale to give an idea of just how big a whale is,'' said grade five teacher Mrs. Mary Hasselbring.

"We've been interested in whales since studying them in the fall.'' Part of the inspiration was the Jason Project, being held over the next three years at the Bermuda Biological Station.

The youngsters spent about 10 hours putting the whale together, using 100-foot rolls of plastic used to cover construction materials. They were donated by parents.

Mrs. Hasselbring said the whale may be put up on display to the public, before being "put down''.

FLIPPIN' ECK! -- The model whale with its 16-foot flippers has become the pride and joy of Mount St. Agnes youngsters.