WIRRAL pupils were treated to a sneak preview of the Olympic Torch – three months ahead of its official relay across the UK.

West Kirby Grammar School student Jodie Simmons persuaded her stepfather Nick Raines, who is leading the torch’s security team, to show the iconic symbol to her classmates on Monday.

The Metropolitan Police officer will be part of the team that will flank each of the Olympic torchbearers on their tour of the country.

And following the delivery of one the first official torches, 13-year-old Jodie managed to secure a special preview for more than 500 pupils who packed the school hall to see and hold the torch.

Nick, who will lead a 20-plus strong security team to safeguard the torch during its journey and prevent the Olympic flame from going out, said: “Jodie thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for her friends at West Kirby to see the torch.

"This is the first high school in the country to see the torch and I was overwhelmed to see the reaction of students.”

Beginning on May 19 the torch will be taken on a 70-day tour of Britain before being used to light the cauldron in the Olympic stadium to mark the start of the Games.

And West Kirby headteacher Glenice Robinson said it was a special day for both staff and pupils. She said: “It was a fantastic surprise for the students to be offered a unique opportunity of seeing and touching such an important symbol of the Games.

“Britain has hosted just three Olympics since the start of the modern games, the last being in 1948. Many of these pupils may themselves be grandparents before it returns so this will be a memorable day for everyone here,” she added.

The torch is a three-sided golden cone – to mark Great Britain’s third Olympics – and made from aluminium alloy.

When lit the flame will burn through 8,000 laser-cut circular perforations, one for each torchbearer who will carry the tube.

Traditionally the torch will be lit from the eternal flame at Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece.

But for the London Games there will be four fire pots containing flames from Olympia to ensure that should disaster strike the flame can be rekindled.

The prototype was unveiled in June last year by Games organising committee chairman Lord Sebastian Coe but the first of the ‘real’ torches only arrived in Britain last week.

The six-week relay will take in most of the UK ahead of next summer's Games. It will start at Land's End and travel 8,000 miles before arriving at the Olympic Stadium on July 27.