Pupils and teachers at primary school in Wembley swap roles for charity

Pupils became teachers and at Chalkhill School's Upside Down Day for Syrian refugee children. Pic credit: Jonathan Goldberg (Image: Jonathan Goldberg)

Chalkhill Primary School in Barnhill Road, got new teachers, senior management staff, cleaners and librarians who took charge looking after their new (grown up) pupils to raise money for Unicef’s Syria Appeal.

Xhesika Khamberi, the new 11-year-old headteacher, held the morning assembly and told the children how the refugees needed shelter, food and medicines.

She said: “It wasn’t stressing but not calm either. It wasn’t easy to stand in front of the whole school, talk formally to the children and run the entire assembly. At the end I felt really proud.

“I had one child (teacher) sent over after losing a football and had to investigate and record the incident. I got all my (pupil) teachers together to find out how they were getting on with their classes and to encourage them. They have been very helpful and supportive and worked well together as a team.

Chayma El Marbouh, 10, gives deputy head Heidi Shanker a strict talking to at Chalkhill School's Upside Down day for Syrian refugee children (Image: Jonathan Goldberg)

She added: “Before I started in the morning it wasn’t my dream job but then I got into it and now I would quite like to be a headteacher. As well as helping people it is also fun.”

Emma Butler had to relinquish her role as the school’s music co-ordinator and had mixed feelings to be a pupil again.

She said: “When the whistle was blown at the end of break I wanted to carry on playing and it was difficult to walk calmly to the line. I was caught mid-run and was told off by the teacher. I got a question right in assembly and was pleased with myself. It was great when the other pupils gave me high fives.”

The money for Unicef’s Syria Appeal will be collected all week using the hashtag #SavingSilver4Syria.