A joke coined by an Upminster pupil beat entries from all over Britain to come second in a famous comic's competition.

St Joseph’s Primary School were applauded by The Beano for its gag: “How did bees get to school?”

Answer: "They took the buuusssss”.

The kids’ comic received entries from schools all over Britain.

Winners were Year 6 at Northside Primary in North Finchley, with the joke: “What’s the hottest area in the classroom?”

The answer: “The corner — because it’s 90 degrees!”

The Beano’s chief gag-makers whittled the wittiest jokes down to their favourite ten, which went to a public vote.

The St Joseph’s Primary pupils can look forward as runners-up to The Bash Street bus turning up on June 19.

Their joke was submitted by Class 3R pupil Felicity Cross, who had a Beano subscription as a Christmas present and read about the competition to find Britain’s funniest class.

Her teacher Claire Ramsay said: “The children were given a few days to decide on a joke, then we voted on our favourite.”

Felicity entered three jokes on the Beano website and one made it to the final.

“We kept an eye on the poll every day and were in the lead at times,” Ms Ramsay added. “But we were all disappointed not to win.”

Even so, St Joseph’s in good humour congratulated Northside Primary for the best gag and is looking forward to the Bash Street Bus arriving at the school gates next month.