Chapter Text
To Whom It May Concern
I am Priya Singh Stevens, known to most as Coach Singh. I am writing in support of Nicholas Nelson and Charles Spring in their application to become foster carers.
Currently I am the Deputy Principal with responsibility for Student Welfare and Pastoral Care at Truham Grammar School for Boys, Kent. Previously I was Head of the Physical Education Department and coach of the First XV Rugby team, also at Truham Grammar. It was in this capacity I first met Nick and Charlie. I taught Nick for four of the seven years he was at Truham, including his A-levels. I taught Charlie for two of the five years in which he took P.E. Since Nick started on the teaching staff our former teacher-student relationship developed into friendly colleagues, and finally friends.
Nick first came to my attention via his brother David who was in the Rugby Team I coached. Nick would watch practice, waiting to get a lift home. I later came to understand this was only in part due to a love of rugby, but also as David was responsible for his brother until their mother finished work. He would kick and pass balls on the next field while he waited, attracting other boys in the younger years who were interested in Rugby. That group of boys went on to become the core of the first XV in their senior years at school.
When Nick was Year 11 he found a new confidence in himself. He appeared to solidify his values. While previously he had been an unfailingly kind boy, he had been unwilling to enter confrontation, over the course of the year he started standing up to those who belittled or demeaned others.
In hindsight it is easy to see the correlation between Nick’s newfound confidence and conviction and his relationship with Charlie. However I believe it was when they were friends, before they started a romantic relationship. Nick started to realise who he was and what he wanted to stand for. The confidence led to their relationship, rather than the other way around.
I named Nick Captain of the First XV because he had, and continues to have, an ability to draw people to him, and the integrity to not abuse that power, in addition to brilliant rugby skill and gameplay. Under his captaincy locker room banter developed from thinly disguised insults into gentle ribbing and teasing.
Nick as a boy showed an intuitive understanding of people’s emotions. As a teacher he is regularly chosen by troubled students as a sympathetic ear, and displays an uncanny ability to talk or listen in just the right amounts to gain the confidence of reticent students and not just getting them the right help, but successfully encouraging them to accept it.
Nick and Charlie are supportive and loving. They are generous and kind. They are a couple that bring out the best in each other, and buoy each other through difficult times. I have absolutely no reservations in recommending them wholeheartedly as foster parents.
Yours truthfully
Priya Singh Stevens