DEAR MADAM - I am a P7 pupil at Jones Memorial Primary School and I have heard many things about the amalgamation and I thought I would have my input as a child about to move on to secondary school.

Firstly I want to say that I have worked hard for seven years to get away from the boys in my class and my dream was to go to the Collegiate because I see how happy my two big sisters are there.

When I got my results from the AQE tests I was ecstatic! I thought about how amazing it would be to go to an all girls school.

Then my bubble popped - the Collegiate and Portora might amalgamate which meant one thing, lots of boys. I talked about it to my friends and they all agreed, this amalgamation is pointless!

Portora and the Collegiate are perfect the way they are and they have stayed separate for many, many years. so why change it now? Why fix something that isn’t broken?

It is not amalgamating schools really; it’s more like closing two fantastic schools and putting all the students into one school. The Collegiate is one of the top schools in Northern Ireland as is Portora!

Also I am wondering about the uniform. Will it change if the merge does go forward? That would mean an entire new school uniform for each child! That would be very expensive especially with the whole recession that’s going on at the moment.

I have talked to most of my classmates and we are worried about what will happen if the Collegiate closes. I want to have the same opportunities as my sisters.

Personally I also think that when I move into secondary school as a little first-year, I would be more comfortable with being in a single-sex school as older boys are quite intimidating to me as I don’t have an older brother like many other people. I also would be more inclined to ask older girls to help me find my way around.

So as a conclusion I sincerely hope that the Collegiate/Portora amalgamation does not happen. Just like I said earlier, why fix what’s not broken?

Yours faithfully, A CONCERNED P7 PUPIL