Sir Daniel Kejval

About My Life

My name is Daniel Kejval. I was born in 2003 and came into the world very prematurely. Due to health complications during the first months of my life, I was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. This condition meant I had to overcome many challenges early on, but it also shaped who I am today.

I spent my entire childhood in England, in the beautiful seaside city of Brighton and Hove. My family lived close to the seafront, and I have many fond memories from those days. I have a sister, and together we attended a private elementary school called Deepdene. I studied there until Year 4, but eventually, it became clear that I needed a school better suited to my needs.

Finding a new school was not easy for my parents. It was a challenging time, but eventually, my mum found St. Andrew’s School, not far from our home. They agreed to accept me, but we had to wait a couple of months until they found the right assistant to support me.

I still remember my first day at St. Andrew’s like it was yesterday. I arrived bright and early, and my form teacher, Mr. White, was waiting for me down the hall. After saying goodbye to my mum, Mr. White took me on a tour of the school. He explained how the school day worked — including that we would pray twice a day — and eventually, we reached my new classroom. I’ll never forget it: the door was painted to look like the TARDIS from Doctor Who. The moment I saw it, I had a feeling that I was about to start one of the happiest chapters of my life.
When Mr. White opened the door, all the children stared at me like I was an alien. A second later, Mr. White loudly announced, “Welcome, Daniel Kejval!” I think I even had to make a short speech, which I didn’t like doing, but I got through it. Then the teacher showed me to my seat — I was placed next to a ginger-haired boy named Jake. He turned out to be really funny and became a great friend.

During break, I got to talk to some of the other students. Many of them were into table tennis and football. I also met three very interesting people that day. One was a girl whose name I don’t remember, but she loved dancing and was incredibly athletic — I still remember meeting her once in Wish Park where she gave me free lemonade! Then there was George, who made up a strange but fun game where he pretended we were aliens trying to escape back to our planet by breaking through the school wall. The last person was Finley Hawkins, who became my best friend during that time. He played as the school’s goalkeeper and was in Year 6, Class G. We had some wild adventures together.

Lunchtime at school was actually great — way better than the school lunches I have now! After school, we could join various clubs. I took part in two: arts and crafts, and film club. Arts and crafts was okay; we mostly did drawing. But film club — that was something special. We watched short films that past students had made, and then we were divided into groups to make our own. My first film was called Dan Bond — it was super cheesy, but I considered it a masterpiece!
I also acted in many plays and even a musical called Cats. One particularly fun homework assignment was to write and read a short story for young children. But the highlight of all my school performances was our adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was a huge project. First, the teachers read us the book, then we watched the old film version, and finally, we had a big discussion about how to bring the story to life. The best part, of course, was the epic battle scene at the end.

The last two weeks of school were very emotional for me, but also exciting, because we went on a school trip to France. I remember one highlight from that trip: we visited a chocolate factory and learned how chocolate was made. It was an unforgettable experience.