Children and teachers working at the five schools in Manningham that make up the The Priestley Academy Trust donned the distinctive yellow outfits to mark this years’ national event.

The schools - Atlas, Green Lane, Lilycroft, Margaret McMillan and Westbourne - have been busy throughout the year with a variety of activities.

The schools normally mark charity events with fund-raising initiatives such as bringing in cakes they have made to sell or setting up stalls selling various items.

Due to this year’s restrictions they were unable to do this, so they raised money on Children in Need day on November 13 by making donations to dress up as their favourite characters.

Some of the children adapted their own clothes for the charity event and came to school sporting special Pudsey Bear T-shirts and teddy bear ears.

Green Lane Primary tweeted after the event: ‘A big thank you for all your donations to Children in Need, our buckets were overflowing! Had a fab day, dressing up and making a huge Pudsey Bear!’

Pupils at one school used their imagination to dress up as different words, with examples being ‘celebrate’, ‘hope’, fragile’ and ‘equations’.

The youngsters at the five schools, aged between two (Green Lane has a nursery) and 11 years, have enjoyed being back at school and were eager to return after the summer holidays.

“It has been hard for everyone this year, particularly when you can’t see family and friends so they were looking forward to coming back for the autumn term,” says the trust’s chief operating officer Tracey Parry.

Always a good excuse to dress up, the children got into the spirit of Halloween earlier this year, wearing outfits from witches to skeletons and taking part in spooky story telling.

“Pupils enjoyed dressing up for ‘spooky stories’ day at Halloween -they always put in a lot of effort into their outfits,” says Tracey. “They loved the Children in Need event, which they take part in every year.”

Due to the pandemic, pupils and teachers from the group of schools have not come together for events, as they do under normal circumstances.

To safeguard children and staff, individual schools are working in bubbles.

“The children have been brilliant throughout everything,” says Tracey, “They have embraced it all and been great. These are very difficult times but they are all enjoying being in school.

“The head teachers and teaching staff have done an amazing job throughout the past few months in challenging circumstances.”

She adds: “Pupils have also had lots of fun building dens and gardening, which are among the activities taking place in the schools’ grounds. They really enjoy learning out in the fresh air.”

The Priestley Academy Trust was formed in December 2016 to enable the schools to work together to enhance learning and benefit pupils.

We all like a bit of sparkle in the lead up to Christmas, and pupils will be busy making colourful decorations to hang on their school Christmas trees and to decorate their classrooms.

On December 11 some pupils are taking part in another national charity event that gets more popular every year, with both children and adults: Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day.

The event encourages people to look in their wardrobes, dig out their ‘silliest sweater’ and donate a small sum to charity in order to wear it.

Schools across the UK will no doubt witness some weird and wonderful woollies on show.

“It should be fun,” says Tracey, adding “All the activities are carried out within the class bubbles.”

*This year BBC’s Children in Need donations reached a whopping £41million across the UK.

*If your school - primary or secondary - or college is involved in any activities or events and you would like to read about them them here in the T&A please let us know.

It could be a well-known annual charity event such as Children in Need or World Book Day, pupils could be taking part in a special project at school, they could be putting on a play (Covid restrictions permitting) or simply creating a masterpiece in art classes.

If you would like us to cover the event/activity send any details about what is happening, together with accompanying pictures and a contact number to helen.mead@nqyne.co.uk or emma.clayton@nqyne.co.uk.