IT’S not every day you receive a letter from the Queen, but that’s exactly what dropped through the letterbox at St Serf's Primary School recently.

Earlier this year the primary one pupils, who are now in primary two, designed stamps to send to her majesty for her 90th birthday.

It was class teacher Luci Lamb’s idea and teacher Liz Clarke got involved too. Each child was given a sheet of paper to design the stamp before it was reduced down to stamp size and sent to Buckingham Palace.

Earlier this month the pupils and their teachers were surprised but thrilled to receive a response from Balmoral, the Queen's Scottish home.

Liz said: “It was just so nice to get an acknowledgement. We made a big thing of opening the letter with the crowns on it that had come from the castle.”

The letter and card were to thank them for their work and the card read: “I send you my grateful thanks for the kind words sent to me on the occasion of my 90th birthday.”

The letter said the Queen was very touched by the care taken over the designs and hoped the children would understand that it had taken so long to reply because of the volume of mail she received for the special day.

Luci has moved on from the school, but Liz made sure she knew the children had got a response and that she got to see the reply.