BALLOONS released by schoolchildren on Portland have been found as far away as Scotland and close to the German border in France.

Pupils from St George’s Primary School and the Grove Infants School attached messages to 500 balloons they released hoping whoever found them would contact the school to say where they had landed.

And to his surprise Charles Collins, aged seven, received a letter back after it was found between Strasbourg and Metz in France – close to the border with Germany.

Charles said: “When I knew that a balloon had been found that far away I was so excited.

“I just hoped it was mine.

“Then when they said my name I couldn’t believe it.”

The 500 helium blue and white balloons were released from St George’s as a part of their new curriculum titled ‘ourselves’.

Each child drew a picture of themselves and gave their first name and contact details for the school in a label attached to each balloon.

Nancy Howard, aged eight, was delighted when her balloon was found by a woman’s dog in East Lothian, Scotland.

She received a letter from the woman who returned it with a photograph of her dog.

Nancy said: “I was happy because it was found by a dog. One other balloon was found in Nancy in France and lots of others were found across Dorset and in Ringwood and Southampton in Hampshire.

The Grove Infants School pupils have been based at St George’s while their school is repaired following a gas scare.

Teacher Rebecca Radford, curriculum leader at St George’s, said the event captured the pupils’ imaginations.

She said: “They’ve been so excited about them coming back.

“The woman from Scotland wrote a lovely letter and they are being read out in assembly “The children have been getting excited about where their balloons are being picked up and to get to the French German border is great.

“They sent a letter in French which we translated in assembly.”

Trevor Jameson, headteacher at St George’s, added: “I’m delighted. It’s part of a project we are doing all the way through the school.

“We want to look at different cultures and we are doing food from different countries for the harvest festival.

“This was an ideal way of launching it and getting the children to learn that the world is bigger than Portland.”