BELBROUGHTON school children got into the Children in Need spirit this week when they received a surprise visit from Pudsey Bear.

The BBC charity’s mascot popped along to Belbroughton Primary School to celebrate the children’s recent fundraising activities.

Almost £200 pounds and 80kg worth of pennies has been raised by the school – weighing the same as a jaguar.

Jayne Jones, office manager, said the pupils were over the moon when Pudsey stepped through their school’s doors.

“The children thought it was great,” she said. “They were all dressed up in spotty things for the day and were very excited.

“It brought Children in Need to life for them as they had only previously seen Pudsey on the television, but to the children this was real.”

Stourbridge News:

Pudsey’s visit was arranged by BBC Hereford and Worcester after they heard news about the school’s large collection of pennies.

Jayne added: “Each class had their own bucket to put their pennies into before they were all tipped into one big one.

“We weighed it and several staff counted all the money up and in total we had £196 in pennies.

“The money raised was well above our expectations and we are very pleased. I have never seen so many pennies!

“We were trying to raise the weight of a gorilla, but we didn’t quite get there, however we did get to 80kgs, which is the total weight of a jaguar.

“The money is being collected this week, but unfortunately they won’t be bringing Pudsey this time.”