A grammar school has been criticised for asking pupils to buy slaves with “good breeding potential” during a history class.

Rochester Grammar School (RGS) in Kent was accused of trivialising the sale trade after asking Year Eight students to fill in a worksheet which asked them to decide how many slaves to buy for £100.

Students at the selective girls’ school, which was rated “outstanding” by the schools watchdog Ofsted, were asked to imagine they were at an auction.

The worksheet described the slaves for sale at the auction in 16 lots, and encouraged pupils to examine their different characteristics.

Descriptions of lots included “Five Yoruba boys aged between nine and 11” and “Two Fanti, one male, one female. 18 years old. Straight from Africa. Very strong and nimble”. Another read: “Two Chamba slaves. One male, one female. At 28, they offer good breeding potential”.