Pupils at Whitehall School in Somersham have taken a seal in Australia to their hearts and, in so doing, have made the front page of the local paper, the Merimbula News.

The Australian Fur Seal, which the reception class children have named Angelica Splash, was introduced to the class by teacher Amy Davies.

Amy’s mother, Bobby, sent her a picture of the seal, which is often seen on the rocks under the Merimbula Causeway, when she was visiting the town on the coast of New South Wales.

The seal, who is already a big hit with locals and tourists, has now reached an audience on the other side of the world after Amy introduced the seal to her class. And as they weren’t sure if it was male or female, the pupils have also given it the nickname of Jelly.

Amy said: “We created a family tree for her, which involved all the other names we had thought of.

“Her dad is called Toby, but everyone calls him Splashee, because of his last name, and she also has a brother called Henry.

“The pupils also decided that the seal had an uncle called Tom, which because of his enormous size they called MegaSeal. She also has two cousins, a twin sister, a mum and auntie, and a granny named Judy.”