CLASSMATES of a Newport pupil who is receiving treatment for leukaemia have raised more than £2,000 for charity by shaving their heads so he won’t feel out when they visit him.

Jacob Denham, 17, will start a course of chemotherapy shortly and 21 friends and a teacher from Rougemont School in Newport decided they would something to cheer him up and donate money to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Harris Cole said classmates first realised something was wrong with Mr Denham, who lives in Rudry, a few weeks ago when he did not attend school for a few days.

But Mr Cole said he did not regret taking part: “It’s for a good cause. We felt we had to do it.”

The school’s deputy head boy, Nathan Hariharan, said he had never had his hair shorter than shoulder length and had grown used to brushing hair away. That would now have to change.

He said: “I have a prominent flick which is going to have to go but when I remember what it’s been done for I’m not bothered at all.”

Maths teacher and rugby coach Lance Godfrey, 34, had his head shaved by the school’s Head of Year 13, Andy Richards.

Mr Godfrey told the boys he would only have his head shaved once £2,000 had been raised. Yesterday morning that total was passed and he joined in. As of yesterday afternoon, the appeal has raised £2,317.27.

He said: “They do a lot for me in the year so when they asked would I do it I couldn’t really say no.”

With the senior school’s pupils looking on at a special assembly, the participants had their hair shaved to a playlist of hair-related songs, including 5 Colours in Her Hair by McFly, Cut Your Hair by Pavement, Whip My Hair by Willow Smith and I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) by Sandi Thom.

The shaving was carried out by four women from Rage Hair & Beauty in Newport. They collected ten plastic bags of hair which will be used in a school competition today to guess their collective weight.

Other participants were: Harry Williams, James Hockey, Evan Perkins, Harry Solanot, Rhys Hawke, Dom Quigley, Liam Wade, Harry Gardiner, Amir Mian, Joel Watkins, Josh Greenhaf, Fraser McDonald, Callum Nixon, Joe Garside, Dan Crook, Rhob Connick, Jarvis Jones, Hammad Ali and former classmate Barney Townsend.

To donate to the boys’ appeal visit justgiving.com/ForJacob or to text a donation, send a text message to 70070 with JCOB50, followed by the amount.