William and Kate visit school in Southport

The Prince and Princess of Wales have visited a school where one of the children murdered in the Southport attack was a pupil.

William and Kate had a private meeting with the mother and father of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who was a pupil at Farnborough Road Infant and Junior School in the town.

Elsie died along with Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Eight other children and two adults were also injured in the knife attack by Axel Rudakubana on July 29 last year.

The royal couple spent more than an hour at the school and around 30 minutes meeting Elsie’s parents Jenni, 36, and David Stancombe, 37, during a private meeting at the school.

Earlier they had been greeted by hundreds of excited children waving Union flags as they arrived.

Kate wore high-waisted dark grey trousers and a pink blouse, with a matching grey woollen trench coat and grey court shoes.

William wore a navy suit and pale blue shirt.

Headteachers at the school thanked the royal couple following what they described as a “tremendously stressful” year, after the attack left the local community devastated.

Jennie Sephton, head teacher of the infant school, said: “It’s made such a big difference.

“It was something that Jenni and David wanted them to do right from the beginning.

“It was around the recognition of what staff have done, how they have supported the family, how they have supported the children going forward.

“And it’s just real recognition that they value Jenni and David but they have also listened. It’s just so special.”

Adrian Antell, head of the attached junior school, said: “I would like to thank the royal couple for coming today and for coming to our school and for coming to Farnborough Road and recognising what we did.

“They spoke so wonderfully about what this community has done together, and they thanked this community for the work they have done, I think that’s really important we get that out.”

William and Kate are carrying out the visit to Southport to show their ongoing support for families and the community after last summer’s fatal knife attack.

It is the second time they have been to Southport in the wake of the attack and subsequent widespread rioting.

The royal couple delivered hugs and sympathy after meeting the families of the three girls on a visit to the town last October, where they also praised and thanked emergency workers who responded to the attack.

Earlier, Elsie’s parents were joined by some of the mothers and fathers of children in the infant school, all singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to occupy the excited youngsters sat in the schoolyard awaiting the special visitors.

A cheer erupted amid a mass of red, white and blue flags waving furiously as William and Kate began their visit.

Both royals spoke to members of the student council, Kate crouching down to speak to infant members while William spoke to the juniors.

The children had only been told minutes before about the special guests visiting their school that day.

Cameron Smith, 11 and Ellis Paynter, 10, were among the children who greeted the royal visitors.

Ellis said: “We were shocked! I was like, ‘We get to talk to the Prince?’”

Jessica Hazelhurst, 10, said: “All of the teachers didn’t get to find out until break time. We all came into school thinking we were getting photos for school council but then it was this.”

Zainah Thompson, 10, said: “We were all very nervous. We talked about what our favourite lessons were.

“He said he wasn’t good at maths, but said it’s a good subject to learn.”

William and Kate spoke to the headteachers about how the school and pupils were coping since the attack.

The headteachers both completed a skydive to raise funds with pupils for Elsie’s Story, a charitable trust set up by the youngster’s family.

Junior school head Mr Antell said: “Every day is different. Elsie didn’t arrive with her class in September when she should have come. So we have had to change support around the class that she is sadly no longer part of.

“We talked about how we support as a community, the community events we had.

“Find positives out of sadness.

“Today is another example of that. Every child here, every staff member here, is going to remember today for the rest of their lives.

“And although we’d all rather Elsie was in our school, we have to deal with the cards we’ve been dealt and so we find positivity and good things out of sadness.”

Ms Sephton, head of the infants school, added: “These children have had a tremendous shock as the whole community has, but our job is children.

“This is something that has deeply affected not only our staff, children, our families, and we are there to support them.”

“Because it’s not going to be solved, we knew it wasn’t going to be solved in a year, children need support and adults need support for a long time.”