Makiah Dexel, 5, from Santa Cruz, just south of San Francisco, is part of an Aptos Academy class that has been communicating with the Lavington class for the past few months.

When the Dexel family were choosing where to go for holidays they chose Australia — which father Marc had fond memories of after a surfing trip here 14 years ago — so that Makiah could meet her buddies.

Yesterday morning the Lavington class was busy working on welcome cards for their new friend.

When it was announced the family had arrived at the front office, the room filled with excitement with everyone gasping “she’s coming, she’s coming”.

The students presented Makiah with a book with profiles of themselves and Makiah did likewise, while also answering questions like “how far are you from Disneyland?”.

In previous emails, the American students had asked the Australian class questions like “Is your school close to the Great Barrier Reef” and “Why do Australians talk funny?”.

Indeed, when Mrs White asked her class “Is Makiah speaking English?”, they all echoed “No”.