PUPILS from a school in York have been revealed as some of the funniest in the country after reaching a national final.

Elvington Church of England Primary School's Class 5 Owls have been shortlisted as one of the 10 finalists in Beano’s hunt for Britain’s Funniest Class 2022.

Their joke ‘What do you call a monkey on a rollercoaster? A Chimpanzeeeeeeeek!’ was specially chosen by Beano’s panel of expert judges and is now being put to a public vote on the website to decide the ultimate winner.

Mike Stirling, editorial director at Beano Studios said: “There was no eek from us for Elvington Church of England Primary School’s incredible joke, which is a joy to tell and an instant playground classic. How long can you stretch the punchline out for? They went straight into the Top Ten and now it’s over to York to vote and march them straight to the top them straight to the top as this year’s Britain’s Funniest Class.”

The nationwide initiative, now in its fourth year, is created in partnership with YoungMinds, the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health. It aims to lift classroom spirits and help build resilience, whilst inspiring the next generation of comedy geniuses through joke-writing lessons.

Olly Parker, head of external affairs at YoungMinds said: “We’re delighted to continue our initiative with Beano to find Britain’s Funniest Class for another year. Laughing together can help children build relationships, cope with challenges and express themselves and we hope the lessons plans downloaded by hundreds of schools have helped students have important, healthy conversations about their mental health.”

Hundreds of primary schools across Britain submitted their best gags, which have been whittled down by comedian head judge Suzi Ruffell with Beano’s best gagmakers and now go forward to a public vote on beano.com to decide the winner.

Suzi Ruffell said: “I am so excited to be a part of this year’s competition, it’s such an incredible opportunity for kids to find their inner-comedian and let their imaginations run wild in true Beano style. Judging the jokes was a tough job and now it’s over to the public to decide who will appear in the comic with me."

Britain’s Funniest Class is based around free, downloadable emotional literacy and resilience teaching resources, developed in partnership with YoungMinds. The lesson plans teach children about mental health wellbeing with step-by-step lessons linked to the English, Welsh and Scottish PSHE Curriculums.

The competition was launched in 2019, when Foxes Class from Castlewood Primary in Horsham, West Sussex took the crown with their joke, “At the bank a lady asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over”.

The voting for this year's competition closes on June 15.