PUPILS at a school in Bromley Cross who undertook work promoting the rights of animals in circuses have received the roar of approval from a movie star.

A personal letter was sent by Virginia McKenna, star of the film Born Free and founder of the Born Free Foundation, to a class at Clarendon Primary School.

Ms McKenna wrote to the youngsters of 5b praising their work and asked for a copy of the assembly that they gave on the hardship of Anne the elephant.

The children of class 5b were working on a project called Wonderful Life, which was based around the premise of keeping wild animals in the wild. As part of the project, they contacted Born Free to state their concerns about the welfare of circus animals.

The pupils were so concerned about an elephant named Anne, who travels with The Great British Circus, that they each wrote a letter to Bolton MP Yasmin Qureshi and DEFRA Secretary of State Caroline Spelman.

Ms Qureshi said: “I was very impressed by the amount of work and effort the children and teacher had put into the assembly and was moved by the story they told. They have highlighted an important issue which I will be taking to Parliament and calling for a ban on performing animals in circuses. I hope my colleagues will support me and class 5b in this campaign.”