WHEN youngsters at a village primary school near Devizes released fifty gold balloons to mark a milestone in its history they never in their wildest dreams thought one would travel nearly 600 miles.

But one released from Chirton Primary by pupil Luke Barton was found in Bavaria in Germany by teenage girl who gave it to her boyfriend Kilian Lutz.

Kilian, 14, emailed the school to let them know that the balloon had travelled across Europe. In his email he pinpointed the finding place with reference to two giant German car manufacturers that he thought British people would be familiar with.

He said: "I'm a boy from Bavaria/Germany. A girlfriend of me found your balloon in a forest with the card of Luke Ethan Barton and gave it to me. I'm 14 years old and I live in the very little village Gschwend with 40 inhabitants. It's between the big towns Ingolstadt (there's the headquarter of Audi) and Munich (BMW)."

The school, which released the balloons as part of its celebration to mark the opening of a new classroom and having 50 pupils on its roll, was delighted.

Associate head teacher Amy Bekker-Wrench said: "We are just amazed that the balloon travelled over 600 miles and was found in a forest, we have Forest School status.We are very excited that Kilian took the time to email us on his find.

"Our celebration day for having 50 children on roll and the opening of our third classroom took place on 20th November with a tea party and the launch of 50 golden balloons. We are delighted that one has been found."

The balloon launch at the end of November was a big day for the whole school and involved former pupil John Cannings declaring the new classroom open.

Mr Cannings, who was a pupil at Chirton Primary School, in the 1940s shared stories of his school days with the children and then each child released a golden balloon and attached a personal message to them explaining why our little school is so special to them.

The opening of a third classroom was something that only a couple of years ago associate head Amy Bekker-Wrench could only dream about.

For back in 2013 the school had only 19 pupils and was under threat of closure.

The school believes letters sent to Prince William and Kate suggesting Chirton as an ideal school for Prince George as part of English persuasive writing task for helping its growth.

It received national publicity when each child received a personal reply from Kensington Palace.

Teacher Kim Noad has been appointed to take on the new class.