A nine-year-old boy upset by a proposal to close his school has fired off letters to everyone he can think of including prime minister Theresa May.
Kai Morris is a Year 5 pupil at Alderman Swindell Primary School in Great Yarmouth which is facing a closure threat under a merger proposal.
Under the shake-up pupils would move to a new school on the North Denes Primary School site nearby.
In a flurry of emails and letters Kai has told councillors, his MP, and the editor of this newspaper he was “feeling very sad” about the proposal.
He told Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis about his teachers who were “really nice” adding that some were “very funny like my teacher Miss Pullman, she makes the class happy”. After introducing himself he said: “I love my school very much. The council wants to close my school to make a bigger school but me and my sisters don’t want to leave. I have been feeling very sad I don’t want my school to close.
“I love how small it is because I get to know everyone and it feels like a family.”
MORE: Parents, pupils and teachers march through Great Yarmouth to protest Alderman Swindell closureHis mother Sandy Lysaght, 33, of Churchill Road, said she was very proud of her son’s heartfelt actions.
As a member of the action group co-ordinating opposition to the proposal she said Kai was keen to be involved and said he wanted to fight for his school.
“He really feels like he is a part of the campaign team. He is so passionate about it. He is a lovely boy and his teachers all love him.
“I am so proud of him. I do not know where he gets it from. He is just lovely, a credit to his school.
“In his letters he tells them all about what he enjoys about school and why he wants it to stay open. He always signs off with ‘love from Kai’ and it is just very genuine.”
MORE: ‘Cold-eyed and unsentimental’ approach needed over Alderman Swindell School, in Great Yarmouth, says council bossKai’s poignant letters look to have hit home and garnered a crop of replies, including from the prime minister’s office on official headed paper.
Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis said he was pleased to read about how much Kai and his sister enjoyed school but didn’t have the power to order the council to take a specific decision.
Penny Carpenter, chairman of the children’s services committee also responded and wished him luck with his dream of becoming a vet, but did not take him up on his offer of a tour of the school. A decision is due by December 6.
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