A BALLOON released from a school in Bridgwater was found hundreds of miles away in a tiny island off the coast of Germany.

Classmates at Wembdon St George’s Primary School let off 60 helium-filled balloons into the air as part of a topic on messages.

Teacher Emily Lovell only expected the balloons to be found nearby, if at all.

But a couple of weeks later the school received a letter from German couple Julika and Ole Zimmermann saying they had found one of the balloons while on holiday in Langeoog, an island in the North Sea.

Ms Lovell said: “We were all amazed at how far that one balloon had travelled.

“We were waiting and waiting to hear if anyone had found any of them and thought one might end up in Taunton but we never thought any could go as far as that.”

A message was attached to each balloon from the pupil who let it off with contact details for the school.

The intrepid inflatable in question was released by class two pupil Finley and the letter was addressed to him personally.

It read: “When we were walking on the beach we were very happy to find your balloon.

“Yours made it a real long distance; it crossed a big part of your country and the North Sea to choose the small, pretty East Frisian island Langeoog to land.”

The couple also sent the little ones a postcard from the island and a picture of their balloons there.