The school’s older pupils aged 10 and 11 have been writing persuasive letters to people about the benefits of free composting bins.

The letters, which were written using computers, were posted out in November and the children have been amazed to get replies.

One youngster, Ryan O’Brien aged nine, penned his letter to the Whitby Gazette.

Headteacher Christina Zanelli said: “Our Class Three children wrote letters to various celebrities as part of our persuasive writing work.

“ We sent them to everyone we thought would support the campaign including Cheryl Cole, Joanna Lumley, Jamie Oliver, Scarborough Council, our local MP and our local European MP.

“They are all keen environmentalists and firm believers in composting, so came up with the idea that everyone should be able to compost for free.

“We have received quite a few positive replies. The children were very excitied particularly by the replies from the Palace.

“The letters were incredibly well written and very persuasive. The children spent a lot of time researching the information to make sure their facts were correct and they thought long and hard about really good persuasive phrases.”