Smiling, singing and dreaming of X Factor

Sara Sharif experienced “daily living hell” at home at the hands of her father and stepmother, but at school she was a caring, cheerful “chatterbox”, who loved singing and dancing, her head teacher said.

Jacquie Chambers told the BBC that Sara was a much-loved pupil at St Mary’s Primary School who would “sing to anyone who would listen” and had dreams of appearing on The X Factor.

Sara attended the school in West Byfleet, Surrey, until weeks before she was found dead in her bunkbed at home last year after being murdered by her father and stepmother.

Despite the torment she suffered, Ms Chambers said she was a “cheerful little soul” in the classroom and she would always be helping younger pupils in the playground.

“She would write songs all of the time and she would sing to anyone who would listen,” she said.

“She came into my office, and I remember saying to her, ‘Sara, what do you want to do when you grow up?’. She said, ‘I want to be on X Factor. I want to win it’. And she stood by that.”

Ms Chambers said Sara’s classmates had created a buddy bench and a special award in her honour since her death.

The school’s Sara Singing Award was set up to find the “singing stars” of St Mary’s.

“We’ve got a lovely music trophy to award that person at the end of the year, and that will be something we’ll do every year to remember her,” she said.

The school also held a memorial ceremony following her death.

During the emotional event, a white feather fell from the sky, which Ms Chambers took as a sign that Sara was looking down on them.

“Part of the service was children sharing memories, and the theme that ran through all of their memories was her singing,” Ms Chambers said.

“Her favourite songs was Memories by Maroon 5 and Count on Me by Bruno Mars.”

Both songs were sung at the service.

Sara’s closest friends also created a memory box in Ms Chambers’ office, containing photos, messages and the white feather.

At the service, each member of her class also decorated part of a bench, which is now used as part of the school’s ‘bench buddy’ scheme.

“She was often called a mother hen,” Ms Chambers said.

“She would love to look after all the little children on the playground, and that’s why they thought of the buddy bench.”

Sara attended St Mary’s from year two until year five, when she was withdrawn to be home schooled in April 2023.

In March 2023 teachers at the school noticed bruising on Sara’s face, and told Surrey County Council Children’s Services.

The Children’s Services investigation into the bruises took six days and the school was asked to monitor Sara.

This ended when Sara was taken out of school the next month.

Ms Chambers could not comment on this in her interview because of an official review into the involvement of social services, the police, the NHS and the education services in Sara’s life.

Sara was found dead in her bunkbed at her family home on August 10.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of murder.

Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child at the Old Bailey.

The head teacher added that Sara would be remembered as an “absolute chatterbox” who was “full of energy and life”.

“We’re quite a big school, but every adult knew Sara. I think that’s why we’re impacted by her death, because everyone knew her,” Ms Chambers said.

She said hearing the news of Sara’s death was “the saddest time of my life”.

“The shock was just immense. Personally, talking as a head teacher, I don’t think you’re ever ready for something like that,” she added.

“Sara had the cutest, biggest smile with her little cheeks. We don’t have a photo in school where she hasn’t got a smile on her face.”