Children at the Meridian Primary School in Greenwich were given a rare treat this week, when movie heartthrob Johnny Depp turned up.

The star responded to a letter from pupil Beatrice Delap and entered the school in his Captain Jack Sparrow costume. Nine-year-old Beatrice’s hopeful letter to Depp read:

'Captain Jack Sparrow, At Meridian Primary School, we are a bunch of budding young pirates and we were having a bit of trouble mutiny-ing against the teachers, and we'd love if you could come and help.

'Beatrice Delap, aged nine, a budding pirate.'

The actor is currently in south-east London where ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’, the fourth movie in the franchise, is being shot.

He was filming at the nearby 18th century Old Naval College when he decided to take a break and visit the school, which was only informed ten minutes prior to his arrival in a blacked-out car.

Beatrice told London Tonight that she was asked by the star to make herself known, which she did and he promptly gave her a cuddle.

Beatrice said: 'He gave me a hug and he said, "Maybe we shouldn't mutiny today 'cos there are police outside monitoring me."'

It’s not the first time Depp has lit up the faces of London children. He made a secret visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital in January 2008, donating £1million as a thank you for saving his daughter's life, He revisited the wards at a later date and told bedtime stories to sick children while dressed as Captain Sparrow.

Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose was treated at the hospital for kidney failure in 2007 (when she was eight-years-old), while he was in the UK filming ‘Sweeney Todd’.

Watch a report on the story below: