PUPILS got a taste of the popstar treatment at Beech School in Golcar when up-and-coming music sensation Natalia dropped in.

She put on a gig for the kids, performing three songs for the school, including her debut single. And Jennifer Hoyle, school administrator, said: “She was absolutely brilliant, so energetic.”

There was also a serious purpose behind the visit – Natalia tours schools to speak to children about bullying.

Bullied herself as a child, she turned to music as a comfort, and is now an ambassador for the young people’s charities UK Youth and Beat Bullying.

Her single Pretty Like Me is a tongue-in-cheek look at society’s obsession with looks.

“The song is a reaction to all the pressure that’s on women to look a certain way,” said Natalia.

The singer was picked by Girls Aloud to support them on their arena tour earlier this year, even performing at Wembley, and she has also supported McFly and Timbaland.

Now Natalia is set to burst into the charts with her debut single being released next February.

She originally trained as a classical ballet dancer at the esteemed Elmhurst ballet school. Then Natalia appeared in theatre productions around Europe as well as landing a role in the film Alexandra The Great starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie, before she turned to singing, joining a girl group called the Pussy Katz.

For various reasons the group didn’t work out, and it was around that time that she met K Warren, who has worked with the likes of Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera.

Her first three songs topped the MySpace R&B and Other charts last year.

“I started recording songs, and I put some on MySpace and it totally blew up,” she said. “It was crazy.”

At the end of 2006 she signed with Upper 11 who whisked her off to the US, where she worked with some of the world’s best known songwriters and producers.

Finishing touches are being put to her album, and the contributors read like a who’s who of the music world, including Jimmy Bralower, who worked with Madonna and Britney Spears, and Peter Zizzo, who worked with Avril Lavigne and J-Lo.