Pupils at an Ipswich primary school are speaking up for the 37 million children who are unable to go to school in countries affected by war, natural disasters and other national emergencies.

Messages of support were penned by children at Rushmere Hall Primary School last week, which formed paper rucksacks symbolising the journeys children have to take when they have to flee in an emergency.

Created as part of the Send My Friend to School Campaign, the rucksacks were given personally to the town’s MP Ben Gummer, who visited the children on Thursday morning.

He will deliver them to number 10 in the next few weeks in a bid to convince the Government to take urgent action on the issue.

The school’s global learning coordinator Michelle Massey said: “Children in years four and five have been learning about the barriers to education for the tens of millions of children who are out of school in countries affected by war and conflict, natural disasters and health emergencies.

“I am so impressed with their passion about the need to give these children an education and provide them with a safe place to learn and give them hope for the future.

“They have filled them [the rucksacks] with things they would pack if they had to leave their school behind and have covered them with messages asking for urgent action to ensure that no child anywhere in the world is left behind on education.”