I AM one of the Commonweal students who was on the Stop the war protest on Wednesday.

Yes, we had left school when we shouldn't have but we were doing it to contribute to stopping the war. I feel that if we can help save hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens' lives then we should.

I can see the point of our head teacher, Mr Defter, in not wanting us to go off the premises while we are the school's responsibility but my fellow pupils and I believe that we should do all we can to help stop the war. We believed that we were doing the morally just thing. The teachers should be pleased that we are taking an active interest in politics.

Most teenagers don't know a thing about politics but we do and we are trying to make a difference.

Also I would like to point out that we left during our lunch hour and didn't miss any lessons.

Lily Martyn

Fitzroy Road

Old Town, Swindon