Children's voices: 'We don't want a war. We just want a peaceful world'

"We are all very frightened. I do think about the war a lot. We don't want a war, we just want a peaceful world,'' Priscilla, an 11-year-old pupil at Argyle Primary School, near King's Cross Station in central London, said.

"Anyway, Iraq has special bombs that can give us diseases. They hide them underground so that the inspectors can't find them but I know they are there.''

Shuel Ahmed, 10, who was born in England but whose parents are from Bangladesh, admits that he finds the talk of chemical and biological weapons frightening. "All of the weapons they show us on the TV and the chemicals too, they might come to us, you just don't know,'' he said.

Jamie Strojwas, 10, has been pondering the possible dangers. "It is worrying but I don't think Iraqi bombs can come here. Because there are so many no-fly zones around Iraq, if a plane tried to take off with a bomb on it to come here it would just get shot down, wouldn't it?'' he said.

Jamie believes that terrorism poses a more tangible threat to his family. "I think terrorists are going to just take this as an opportunity,'' he said.

Fathia Omar, 10, and Priscilla agree. The school's proximity to King's Cross station and the new cross-Channel rail link worry them, as they fear both could be terrorist targets. "What if someone threw a bomb near the school?'' Priscilla asked. "Where's Tony Blair's house? Isn't it around here,'' she added.

The children say they have been reassured by their parents but that despite this, they often find themselves worrying about the war.

"The thing that upset me most was seeing all the soldiers on the news having to burn all their personal things, photos and letters from their families. Just in case,'' Coco Carr, 11, said.

The war in Iraq is very real to 10-year-old Roshan Zabhini. Her grandmother and aunt live there. Roshan, whose father is Iraqi and whose mother is Iranian, and who arrived in Britain four years ago from Iran, said: "We are scared for them. The last thing we heard was that they were safe and still in their village. My mum and dad are scared for their family.''

Fathia Omar, whose family fled war in Somalia seven years ago, feels angry and disappointed that Britain is now involved in conflict with Iraq. "We came to this country hoping that I could get a good education and that there would be peace, but now war has started I do feel angry and frightened sometimes," Fathia said.

The children say that nearly all the pupils are opposed to the war. Many children have firsthand experience of war and do not believe there is justification for conflict with Iraq. Most of the pupils come from Bangladesh, Somalia and Kosovo. The majority are Muslims.

Laura Wynne, the headteacher, said: "Naturally, nobody would want to go to war but some of our children, because of their experiences, might feel that war is sometimes a necessary evil. It is not our place to tell them that that is right or wrong.''