New pupils at a Clayhall school took it upon themselves to cheer up a student nurse who was feeling lonely while at university.

The youngsters at Caterham High School wrote to Chloe Turnidge after her mum posted on a Redbridge Facebook group saying she was feeling isolated studying in Colchester.

%image(15046914, type="article-full", alt="Student nurse Chloe Turnidge said she was "completely overwhelmed" to receive the letter and drawings and it made her day.")

When teacher Juliana Nica showed the post to her students, they decided to take action, sending her letters and cards to keep her spirits up.

One handwritten letter reads: "We know you are training to be a superhero and we want to thank you for your hard work and dedication."

The seven students who took part are in the school's English as an additional language (EAL) class.

Juliana said: "When I saw the post I very much identified with Chloe because I studied a long way from my home and I am now living away from my homeland in Romania.

"It can feel like you are the only person in the world when you do not have family and friends around. I think some of the students can relate to that."

%image(15046915, type="article-full", alt="Many of the students in the EAL class have recently arrived in the UK so they could relate to feeling lonely without family and friends around.")

The idea to send the letter and cards came from the pupils and she said she was proud of how caring and passionate they were.

One of the pupils, Hamza Urrehman, 13, from Ilford, said: “When we heard of what Chloe was going through, we knew we had to help her feel better.

“She is doing an amazing thing by becoming a nurse and helping people so she deserves to have someone be nice to her as well.

“It was a really nice feeling when she wrote back and said how happy she was to receive our letters. It really made it feel worthwhile.”

In a letter to the school, the student nurse said she was “completely overwhelmed” after receiving the post, saying it “made her day".

It reads: “I recently received a card from you and just wanted to email to show my appreciation, it made my day.

“I am completely overwhelmed; all of the drawings were amazing and the writing gave me some much-needed motivation so I can’t thank you all enough."