School trip surprise as students meet The Rock

Image source, BBC/Joshua Falcon Image caption, Students from St Gregory Primary School in Sudbury could not believe their eyes when The Rock appeared at a Moana event By Jo Black , at Potters Field Park, London  and  George King Published 30 June 2026, 13:28 BST Updated 6 minutes ago Primary school pupils had the surprise of their lives when a trip to London turned into a face-to-face red-carpet meeting with wrestler-turned-Hollywood megastar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. About 50 students from St Gregory Primary School in Sudbury, Suffolk, went to the capital on Tuesday for what they believed would be a standard "old-fashioned" excursion. Little did they know they would be attending the Moana Experience, an immersive event organised in support of the upcoming live action adaption of the hit 2016 film. Better still, the Years 3 and 4 students also got to meet Maui himself. Image source, BBC/Joshua Falcon Image caption, The Rock took time to speak to the students at the event "It was awesome [to meet them] and they were losing their minds and going bonkers and going crazy," he told the BBC. "That's the fun part of fame and the best part of fame. This kind of stuff is important." Image source, Reuters Image caption, The Rock and Catherine Laga'aia appeared at a Moana Experience event in London The star-studded encounter, at Potters Field Park next to the River Thames, was arranged by Disney and the school's headteacher, Daniel Woodrow. They collaborated after the pupils recorded a social media video in January in the hope of getting The Rock's attention. Woodrow had told pupils that if the former WWE star saw the clip, he would take them to see the new Moana film for their end-of-year school trip. It quickly went viral and succeeded in catching the attention of the actor, who sent back a video message promising to hire out a cinema for them and their friends and family to watch the film. Image source, Instagram/@therock Image caption, Dwayne Johnson's special video message was shown to students during an assembly The 54-year-old also offered to pay for their sweets and snacks. In The Rock's four-minute video, he added that he was "so moved" by the clip and it was "so cool" for them to attempt to contact him. "I heard you guys were super, super pumped and excited to see live action Moana, so I'm going to find a theatre, rent it out, and you guys are going to see Moana," he told them. "Love you guys, keep doing great in school and, as Maui says, 'You're welcome'." Image source, BBC/Joshua Falcon Image caption, The Rock posed for a selfie with the excited Suffolk school students This is a developing story and more updates will be published shortly. Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below. Get in touch Your Voice Contact form Contact form Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds , Facebook , external , Instagram , external and X , external . Related topics Dwayne Johnson Sudbury More on this story The Rock promises pupils free Moana movie