A 10-year-old pageant princess who has dreams of becoming a beauty queen is using her personal experience of learning disabilities to help give fellow pupils an insight into the issues that some youngsters face.

Meesha Agard was inspired to do something to help kids understand how they should treat children with learning disabilities after her brother, Alex – who has Down’s syndrome and learning difficulties – told her stories about being ignored in the street.

As an aspiring pageant queen who supports charitable causes, Meesha decided to spring into action and organise a series of talks for schools.

The initiative comes after she walked away with the title of Miss Highstreet UK 2016 last week after the finals of the national competition held in Liverpool.

Hot on the heels of that success, she is also gearing up for the finals of the Face of the Globe pageant which will be staged in Paris in April.

Meesha said: “I would like to act as a role model to children young and old.

“I want to help educate children in respecting others regardless of their disabilities.

“When children get to a certain age they start to branch off into their groups. A child with a disability will get left out because other children don’t think that they are cool enough.

“This makes a disabled child feel left out, breaks their confidence and they can sometimes feel lonely. Because even though they have family that loves them, they still want to have friends just like everyone else.”

Meesha’s mum Rondell Agard said: “I’m very very proud of her. It’s great that she wants to do something with her life.

“She knows what she wants and I just want to support her and encourage her to do this because a lot of kids her age wouldn’t think to do it.

“Having a brother who is disabled has made her more aware of the difficulties that someone with disabilities has to face.

Meesha – pictured right celebrating her successes so far – will talk at Peartree Spring Primary School where she is a pupil, tomorrow, and at Longmeadow Primary School next week.

She is also asking for local businesses to sponsor her to help raise funds for the Rainbow Child Foundation. To find out how you can help email rondell.agard@yahoo.co.uk.