Pupils were celebrating yesterday after learning their friends will be released from a deportation camp for Christmas.

The youngsters from Hove Park School have been campaigning on behalf of their classmates Harvey Sisya, 15, and his sister Kandazi, known as Kandy, 13, who were seized from their Hove home on November 28 by the UK Border Agency.

The siblings had been sent to Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire with their mother Gift Mubanga, where they faced deportation to Zambia.

But yesterday it was announced they had been bailed by two anonymous sponsors. Last night it was believed their mother had also been released.

Pupils were thrilled by the news.

Year 11 pupil Charley Guile said: “I don’t know what to say. At last our efforts are beginning to pay off.

“I can’t wait to see the family again.

“We’re going to make sure that they have a good Christmas and Harvey and Kandy are going to get a great welcome when then come back to school in January.”

Declan Peake, also in Year 11, said: “It’s a great relief – we all look forward to seeing Harvey dance again.”

The school’s deputy headteacher Rob Millman said: “We are absolutely ecstatic.

“In any school a community spirit develops and when something happens to anyone in the community we all feel it.”

A UK Border Agency spokesman said individual cases could not be commented on. But added: “We only seek to remove families who are in the UK unlawfully after all appeal rights have been used and the courts agree that they have no further right to remain in the UK.”

The siblings have lived in Hove since 2001. It is understood that Mrs Mubanga has made several unsuccessful attempts to gain a permanent visa.

The family has been supported by Hove MP Celia Barlow, whose daughter went to primary school with Kandy.

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