PUPILS were delighted to receive a letter from 10 Downing Street on behalf of the prime minister to assist them with a project.

Members of Millom School's Year Seven STEM Club were over the moon to receive letters on behalf of Theresa May and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to aid their project research.

The secondary pupils were doing research ahead of their presentation for the First Lego League West Cumbria tournament. The national theme this year is Animal Allies and Millom School looked into the issues around the use of animals in circuses and the legislation.

Harry Steele penned a letter with his science, technology, engineering and maths club teammates and emailed it to 10 Downing Street.

The response from 10 Downing Street said: "Dear Harry, I am writing on behalf of the prime minister to thank you and the Millom School's Year 7 Stem Club for your excellent email.

"Mrs May very much appreciates the time you have taken to write to her. Your views were very well expressed."

Number 10 directed the email to Defra and the department responded with information saying that the government is committed to introducing a bill banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses when parliamentary time allows.

George Burch, mentor at Millom School, said: "The students felt brilliant to get the responses from the government."

The team went on to have a good day at the First Lego League West Cumbria tournament, held at St Bee's School on Wednesday. Twenty teams took their Lego robot designs and projects to the hotly contested event.

They designed, built and programmed robots using Lego Mindstorms technology. The children then performed autonomous missions with the robots on a tabletop playing field.

The pupils gave presentations on the theme of Animal Allies and they were also judged on their core values.

Next month Millom School heads to the Big Bang Fair 2017 at The NEC, in Birmingham. Two teams, one from Year 10 and one from Year Nine, are competing in the national finals with their energy projects.