Littlehampton sky filled with children’s colourful balloons

Year-three pupils from River Beach Primary School set loose more than 100 balloons, each with a heartfelt, personal message attached to it, as part of an on-going geography project.

It is hoped that, over the coming days and weeks, the balloons will drift their way across Europe to be discovered by people living in different countries.

If all goes well, those who find the helium balloons will contact the school and tell the children a little bit about their life and culture.

However, Lisa Decarteret, head of year three at the school, added some of the children hoped the messages would reach further afield.

She said: “Some of the messages that the children wrote were really touching.

“A few of the children hoped that they would get to heaven and be read by some of their relatives.

“One child even wrote a letter for his cat, which died earlier in the year. It was really sweet.”

Despite a slight hiccup at the start, most of the balloons floated their way up into the sky.

Lisa explained that the release was all part of the school’s geography topic, “Where in the world?”.

She said: “We wanted to make geography more exciting and engaging for the children.

“We felt this was the perfect method to do that. I had tried it before a few years ago, at the Arun Vale Infant School, and it was a huge hit.”

She said that the school, which has since been amalgamated into River Beach, received replies from Brighton, Worthing and even Belgium.

“We had a paraglider from Belgium send us a picture of him, holding one of the balloons. He also wrote a message telling the children about what his country is like, what he does.

“So, fingers crossed, we might be able to get a message from a country further away than Belgium.”