Apprentice star quizzed by Highbury pupils

A reality TV star brave enough to be questioned by business guru Alan Sugar was quizzed by budding scribes at a Highbury primary school.

Saira Khan, runner-up on the first ever series of The Apprentice, was interviewed by the magazine club at Gillespie Primary School in Gillespie Road.

The youngsters asked thoughtful questions about her experience on the hit BBC show, the challenges faced by Muslim women in business – and one wanted to know if, being her own boss, she ever tells herself off.

Ms Khan, who now presents children’s TV show Trade Your Way to the USA, also gave an inspirational speech to the school assembly, telling pupils to believe in themselves and never take no for an answer.

Parent Danielle Graham, 43, of St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, a TV producer who directed Ms Khan in the first series of The Apprentice and helps out at the magazine club, said: “She was just brilliant and the headteacher said it was the best assembly they’ve ever had.”

The aim of the magazine group is to get children interested in writing and in their community. They are working on their first publication, and have interviewed Labour leader Ed Milliband and former Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere.