LOCAL school welcomed Right Honourable Stuart Lawrence to motivate the children.

Having seen a news story about Stephen Lawrence, Elle Holdaway, 9, a pupil at Halterworth School reached out to Stuart via her Instagram, run by her mum, to see if he would visit her school and he accepted the invite.

The ex-teacher, who has since become a motivational speaker following the tragic killing of his younger brother, Stephen in 1993, explained that his experience of losing his brother more than 30 years ago, had shaped his life to promote selflessness and kindness.

Stuart now engages with young people in the hope to offer different pathways that lead to positive outcomes.

‘If you are kind to others, they’ll be kind to you’ was one of the messages year 5 and 6 pupils came away with from a talk by motivational speaker Hon. Stuart Lawrence.

Stuart presented a number of the pupils with his book ‘Silence is not an option, you can impact the world for change’ which was sponsored by a Global Investment company PGIM.

Elle said: “Stuart is such a lovely person and very kind. It was great to meet him. We all really enjoyed his talk. I am sad that his brother was killed, but I hope that his amazing work will mean that this sort of thing never happens again. We all just need to be kind to each other. It doesn’t matter who we are or where we have come from, we should all support each other.”

Hon Stuart Lawrence said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Halterworth Primary school and meeting Elle and her friends. I hope that all the children took something away from the session. If I can help the world to be a kinder place, then I will feel a great deal of satisfaction.”

Phil Thomas, head teacher at Halterworth Primary school, said: “Stuart is inspirational person, and we thank him so much for coming to see us. He was so kind to give us a copy of his book which we will treasure. It’s an amazing read.”

The talk was also lived streamed to Wellow and Awbridge Primary schools.