He may not know all the words to 'Hey Jude' and was a little late for his dinner afterwards too but the kids at Fossa NS certainly weren't complaining when IFTA winner and Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender called in to see them on Monday.

Fresh from collecting his award at Saturday evening's rather loud IFTA ceremony - he even gave a mention to Fossa in his acceptance speech - the '12 Years A Slave' star was back home in Dromin for two nights for a little rest and recuperation.

Largely keeping a low profile, the Hollywood star stepped out at lunchtime on Monday and popped his head into his former primary school, spending over an hour talking with the kids and meeting a few parents too.

"It was unexpected but, of course, we were thrilled to see him," Principal Pat Clifford said afterwards.

"He viewed all our new amenities and spent time in the Special Needs and Autistic units where he took pictures with the kids. Afterwards, the whole school went to the hall where he took questions from the room."

And it seems that the star-struck pupils managed to get in plenty of questions.

For instance, the film in which he takes most pride is 'Hunger', a role that saw him lose a quarter of his body weight. Favourite subjects at school were English and History but his favourite part of the school day was break-times. Indeed, the local star even revealed that he considered himself a slow learner at school and to this day still hates learning his lines. He told the kids to persevere in their chosen pursuits, as it's not just about glitz and fun, there's plenty of hard work too.

After the pupils sang a rousing rendition of 'I'd Do Anything For You' from the musical 'Oliver', the visitor returned the compliment with a rendition of 'Hey Jude' backed by Helen Moynihan on piano.

"He didn't know all the words so the staff got the lyrics on the Internet, it was all really good fun," Pat continued, adding: "He was charismatic and very engaging with the kids, with a fantastic rapport".

Michael sat in for group pictures and posed for phone pics with parents before his father, Josef, reminded him that his mum, Adele, had the duck cooked and waiting for him at home.