TV presenter Helen Skelton inspires pupils at Harrogate school

The Yorkshire-based mum-of-three delighted the audience at the Harrogate independent school, challenging pupils from nursery to Year 6 to go out into the world and ‘be anything you want to be’.

She encouraged children at Belmont Grosvenor School to be ambitious, resilient and joyful – three of the Harrogate prep school’s core values.

Ms Skelton told pupils, parents and staff: “Life is about challenges, and life is about taking risks.

"It doesn’t matter what other people think, what other people think you can and can’t do - you can be anything you want.

“Sometimes life throws curveballs at you but I am sure you have learned the resilience and calmness you need to deal with these challenges.

"I am sure you have got these tools from this glorious school and these glorious teachers."

Co-educational prep school Belmont Grosvenor is based at the historic Swarcliffe Hall in the village of Birstwith, just a few miles from the centre of Harrogate.

Former Blue Peter presenter Ms Skelton, currently fronting Channel Five’s Summer on the Farm, described the school’s setting as “incredible” and praised Belmont Grosvenor School for its outdoor learning ethos.

She added: “Teachers – never under-estimate what you do and the benefits of learning outside."

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Ms Skelton shared secrets from some of her most famous challenges, from kayaking the Amazon to becoming only the second woman to complete the Namibia Ultra Marathon.

She said: "I’d never run for 10 minutes, never mind 80 miles in 23 hours.

"I set my GPS every five miles to zero, and I did another five miles and another five miles until I reached 80."

And during her Guinness World Record breaking solo kayak down the Amazon in 2010, Helen told the Belmont Grosvenor School community that pirates chased her and stole coffee from their boat.

Two years later, in Antarctica, she endured temperatures of -48 degrees to ski, kite and bike 500-miles to the South Pole – “it is the coldest, windiest place on earth” and revealed that her support crew gifted her a microwaveable Christmas pudding which she finally ate on her return home.

Acting Headteacher Emma Shea, who leaves Belmont Grosvenor school at the end of the academic year after 16 years, praised pupils for their hard work and, with the help of Ms Skelton, handed out prizes for a wide range of achievements from science and maths awards to the kindness and consideration cup.

She told the Speech Day audience that the school’s goal was to help develop the whole child “to become the kind of people you would like to spend time with".

Mrs Shea said: “Interesting, rounded people who have the social skills to engage with anyone they come into contact with in all walks of life.

"I hope that the strong foundations they build at Belmont Grosvenor School will help them to face the next steps they have to take.

"That it gives them the determination to have a go, even if things can be challenging."

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