Pudsey delights Early Years children at Nansen Primary School

BBC Children in Need’s star attraction Pudsey Bear caused huge excitement this week when he dropped into Birmingham’s Nansen Primary School to meet Early Years pupils. During the visit, four and five-year-olds from the school in Alum Rock took part in Pudsey-themed art and reading activities, including colouring in pictures of the annual fundraising campaign’s much-loved mascot.

The tour kicked off a series of fundraising activities scheduled to take place at the school over the coming weeks in the lead-up to Children in Need 2015.

The visit was filmed by BBC Midlands Today and the footage is expected to form part of a regional Children in Need television montage to be broadcast during the appeal on the evening of Friday, 13 November.

According to Maria Nicholaou, Head of Early Years at Nansen Primary School, Pudsey proved extremely popular with the children.

She said: “It’s not every day the children get to meet such a high profile TV star, so you can imagine it caused huge excitement. Pudsey went into a number of classes and watched the children decorating pictures of him. It was great fun. It was also interesting to see the teachers’ reaction to the visit – it’s clear that many of them were just as excited by meeting Pudsey too!”

Following the visit, pupils described meeting the iconic bear.

Holly, aged 4, said: “I really liked meeting Pudsey, he made the whole class smile. I think Children in Need is very important because it helps other children.”

Rais, aged 4, said: “Pudsey came into our class and we played in the sandpit but the bit I liked best was going into the playground with Pudsey and everyone shouting ‘Children in Need’.”

Pudsey’s visit to Nansen Primary School was sponsored by Lloyds Bank, which last year announced a three-year partnership with BBC Children in Need. During the partnership, the bank is working with schools to help double its fundraising pledge to £4 Million per year supporting disadvantaged children and young people.

Stacie Goodhead, Education Specialist – Midlands, Lloyds Bank, said: “As part of our partnership with BBC Children in Need we have visited many schools around the region with Pudsey and we are always bowled over by the excitement of the children when he walks into the classroom. The children from Nansen Primary School were no exception, we had a delightful afternoon with them.”