Belmont House School Shows Its Spots for Pudsey

Pupils, staff and parents at Belmont House School shattered the fundraising records of previous years for the Children in Need appeal, raising £2,764 in total. This represents a £1,000 increase from last year; an outstanding effort from a school with a roll of just fewer than 300.

Fundraising activities were held throughout the week, culminating in our annual “Belmont’s Got Talent” show on the afternoon of Friday, November 18^th. During the same evening, a delegation of thirty of our seniors was sporting their purple blazers at BBC’s Children in Need in Scotland, presented by Jackie Bird, live from Pacific Quay in Glasgow. The senior choir had shot and submitted a video of their rendition of Primal Scream’s “Moving On Up” and a clip of it was featured on Saturday evening’s Highlights Show and posted to the official website, where you can still watch their performance.

Cake and pakora sales were held at Belmont throughout the week in the run-up to our talent show while Senior 6 pupils circulated throughout the school with charity buckets. 

One of our English teachers cleverly raised funds on the promise to shave off half of his beard – and he delivered, proudly traversing the school with his unusual facial hair.

On Thursday, November 17th, the nursery hosted a “Parents’ Fun Day” in the school hall featuring stalls of games, raffles, home baking and an art exhibition displaying the children’s pictures of Pudsey.

Afterwards, each of our Junior School classes were tasked with organizing, advertising and managing a fun activity in which other pupils could pay 25p to take part.

Activities ranged from Pin the Patch on Pudsey to decorating Pudsey masks and cookies to guessing Pudsey’s birthday and nationality.

On Friday, students generously donated £3 for a ticket to the talent show and £2 towards a non-uniform day. After the nursery students danced to Elvis Presley’s “You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog”, the Junior School followed up with their opening acts. Daniel, Abigail and Kareena confidently belted out individual solos before Oliver played a demanding piano piece. 

Louis followed him up with spectacular stand-up comedy before Alex and Sophie wrapped things up with a sweet performance of “Fireflies”. Senior singers included Tegan with “Wherever you go”, Jodie with “Marry Me” and Rachel added a bit of ukulele to her rendition of the A-Team theme song. Other musicians included Ian, who played “The Maple Leaf Rag”, Richard and Austin, who performed a rather technical Metallica piece on semi-acoustic guitars and a superb version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, courtesy of Gregor on drums, Andrew on guitar and Carl’s vocals.

Ashleigh was accompanied by her fellow single “ladies”, Cameron and Jonathan, in a Beyonce dance routine and the staff band, Chalk & Rock, carried us through a delightful Queen medley.

A bit off the beaten track, “The Incredible Science Department Extreme Juggling Display Team” (courtesy Mr. Cavers) provided the sort of entertainment that befits their title, accompanied by The Rave Gorilla. Finally, five brave senior prefects were drenched during the course of the afternoon, as well – all for a good cause!

“Belmont House School has a proud track record of supporting worthwhile charitable causes and those less fortunate than us,” said principal Melvyn Shanks. “I’d like to thank our parents for their previous generosity in contributing to the BBC appeal via the school and for their continued support of others in these challenging economic times.”