YEAR 7 pupils at Abbey Park School held a bake sale during their break-time on Monday to raise money for their 12-year-old classmate Keira Dancey, who has leukaemia.

Natalie Chapman, head of Austen House, said: “It was a great event.

“Keira’s tutor group said they wanted to do something to raise money for her, they planned it, made all the posters and baked all the cakes themselves.

“It was all organised by the students, they’ve been planning it for weeks and they’ve put a lot of time and effort into it. Each house in the school has a charity pot and we used money from that to match what the students raised.”

At the weekend, Swindon Martial Arts and Fitness raised £680 for the youngster, a keen kickboxer, with a Kicks for Keira event.

Keira was rushed to the Great Western Hospital on December 16 and transferred to the Teenage Cancer Trust Ward in Bristol where a blood clot was discovered in her brain.

Following a major operation to remove it, her parents Emma and Geoff were told she would not be able to talk and would lose all feeling down her right side.

But she defied the medics and was soon walking and talking again, though Keira now has to undergo chemotherapy in Bristol and Emma has taken time off work to stay with her in the hospital.

Money from the fundraising efforts will be divided between supporting Keira’s family and a charity of her choice.