LEADING speakers from the North-East’s Gypsy, Muslim, refugee and Nepalese communities inspired children at a specialist school today.

Pupils at Darlington’s Beaumont Hill Academy enjoyed visits from community leaders and speakers from a variety of backgrounds during a ‘Diversity Day’.

The UK’s Gypsy leader Billy Welch, one of the country’s youngest councillors – Darlington’s Sharifah Rahman – and Syrian refugee Mouhyedin Alkhalil were quizzed by youngsters as they spoke about their lives, cultures and traditions.

The children also had the opportunity to speak to, cook with and learn from representatives from the LGBT+, Nepalese and Hindu communities.

Mr Welch’s visit to the school came as part of his on-going efforts to quell racism by promoting understanding of his culture among youngsters. He was met with questions from curious children who wanted to know about Appleby Fair, his line of work – “I’ve done tarmacking, sold Persian carpets, now I manage two caravan sites” – why Gypsies have horses and how he feels when people are mean to him.

To them, he said: “I didn’t get much of an education because I was always on the road, but you are on a road too and it’s the road to a good education – don't waste it.”

Children learned to write their name in Arabic when Mr Aklhalil popped into their classroom while Cllr Rahman shared her knowledge of Bangladeshi culture and Muslim customs.

The school’s pastoral leader Carl Gaze said the day also gave visitors the chance to learn more about those with special needs.

Mr Gaze said: “Because ours is a special needs school, we don’t have the same kind of representation other schools do.

“When our children go to college or work, they’ll meet people from a range of backgrounds and this helps to prepare them for that. It teaches them about differences but also what we all have in common.

“The children get to learn about the groups who are living in our area and it gives those coming in an opportunity to learn about them, too.”

Brandon Rilley, 14, said he had learned “a lot", adding: “Meeting new people has been my favourite thing about the day.”

Philip Roberts, 13, added: “We learned about diversity and that we need to respect people from different cultures – I enjoyed everything.”