A DEVOTED sister had her blonde locks chopped off to raise money for her step-brother's school which is hoping to send 102 children to Lapland at Christmas.

Abertillery Primary School pupil Gracie-Jean Summerhill, nine, has so far raised £310 for a parents’ fundraising drive for Pen-Y-Cwm special school’s pupils to take a trip to northern Finland later this year.

Her stepbrother, Mattie, also nine, has been a pupil at the school for the last five years.

Her mum Karleigh Summerhill said: “She’s like a little mother to him. She will bathe him, she will put him to bed. Not a lot of kids could do that.

“It’s only been set up over the last few weeks since the parents have decided they wanted to do this. There’s lots of people doing fundraising things.”

And her mum said she was looking to model her hair on the pop singer Taylor Swift after the cut.

Gracie-Jean was inspired to take a trip to a salon after a classmate donated hair to the Little Princess Trust, where hers will now be sent. The charity provides wigs made out of real hair for children who have suffered hair loss.

Mrs Summerhill added: “I waited for two weeks just to make sure she wanted to do it. But she was adamant. She’s like that once she gets something in her head. She’s never had a lot cut, she’s only ever had trims before. She’s always wanted long hair.

“She looks very grown up – it’s scary. I asked her before: ‘From one to 10 how excited do you feel?’ She said 10. And I said: ‘How nervous do you feel?’ And she said one.”

One mum who’s formed part of the fundraising group said the school has backed parents’ fundraising like Gracie-Jean’s all the way. It had about £1,000 in the kitty at the last count.

Louise Bayliss, whose son Jack, 17, attends the school and will be on the way to Lapland once the money has been raised said: “Obviously it’s a Christmas-themed trip and we are doing different things to send the children on the trip of a lifetime.

“It is a bunch of us mums who decided to get together. There’s lots of things going on. There’s a party at Bedwellty House – that’s sold out. There’s a Frozen-themed party in June or July.

“[The school] is behind us 100 per cent. We have had all our meetings there.

“We have been very fortunate with businesses in Abertillery, Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr. A lot of them have donated raffle prizes. We are very lucky.”

For more information about the fundraisers, visit the group’s Pen y Cwm Lapland fund’s Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1yhuHOP.