Nicola Sturgeon writes letter to Gorleston pupils who championed SNP policies

Nicola Sturgeon's letter to Peterhouse Primary School pupils Archant

Children who championed SNP policies when their school held a mini mock general election have been personally congratulated by party leader Nicola Sturgeon.

Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in.

Nicola Sturgeon's letter to Peterhouse Primary School pupils Nicola Sturgeon's letter to Peterhouse Primary School pupils

Peterhouse Primary Academy headteacher Martin Scott was bemused when he received a plain white envelope addressed to pupils Emily Stonehouse and Keegan King in the morning post.

Inside was a handwritten card penned by Mrs Sturgeon, who had somehow heard of their political success.

Just before the General Election, Year 5 youngsters at the Gorleston school took part in a mock election with pupils standing as party members and campaigning for votes using real party policies.

Ten-year-olds Emily and Keegan were the SNP candidates and gave a speech in assembly based on the Scottish National Party’s actual education policies, includng free nursery places for three and four-year-olds.

A fortnight later, a card from the SNP leader arrived.

“When I received this envelope addressed to Emily and Keegan, care of myself, I didn’t know what was inside,” said Mr Scott.

“I took it to the classroom and gave it to their teacher, Karen Taylor. Minutes later the two children came to my office with looks of shock on their faces and excitedly shared the card, explaining it was from Nicola Sturgeon.”

The congratulatory note, handwritten by the first minister of Scotland, highlighted the children’s SNP win in the school election.

“I was shocked at how she had taken the time and effort to praise two children not connected in any way with her constituency or Scotland and was full of admiration for her efforts.

“It had made the whole election experience come alive for the children.”

Six of the main parties were represented at the mini election; Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Green and SNP.

The children, who had been learning about democracy, were tasked with researching each party’s education policies and presenting them to the school before a secret ballot was held.

When the SNP claimed victory, party leader Emily said she was “overjoyed”.

Keegan added: “The SNP had a lot of support in the other years in school, including Emily’s brother and sister who were behind her all the way.”