THE Far East has met Bolton in an innovative scheme linking schools in the UK with those in China.

Simon Bramwell, executive principal of SS Simon and Jude's CE Primary School in Great Lever was one of the headteachers to travel to the Orient and part in the China Bridge project, funded by the British Council and Han Ban the Chinese Language Institute.

The trip gave headteachers an opportunity to establish links with Chinese schools and introduce Mandarin to youngsters.

Mr Bramwell said: "Taking part in this trip allowed us to link up with more than 80 UK schools involved in the project and develop a link with a school in China before the trip, invest in my own professional development, find out about the teaching and learning of Mandarin and Chinese culture to bring back to my school — and gain support from Hanban and the British Council in developing and sustaining a Chinese school link."

The delegation found out more about Chinese culture and etiquette in Beijing before flying to their host city of Chengdu to spend time in the host schools.

Mr Bramwell said: "School starts at 8am in China and goes on until 4pm. Many pupils in upper primary and secondary have tutors after school, and education is highly valued by parents.

"The scale and size of the country is vast. Chengdu is one of 10 cities that is larger than London and is a sprawling metropolis.

"While in the schools we spoke with staff and pupils, watched lessons and demonstrations and discussed the potential for future projects including having a Chinese language teacher coming over in September to teach the children here in Bolton.

"What came across was the enthusiasm of the children.

"The teaching was didactic, very few resources by our standards and up to 50 children in a class.

"All teachers taught specialist subjects from year one up and there were over 1000 pupils in this primary school.

"They place a great value on traditional crafts and presented us with a number of calligraphy rolls and pupils art to bring home.

"They also play a number of traditional board games. Having been soundly beaten by an eight-year-old playing Chinese checkers, not once but on three consecutive occasions, I can attest to their proficiency."

He added:"In our recent Ofsted we were praised for the wider international outlook that we have at SSSimon and Jude and the harmony that promotes in our school.

"They commented that 'The school is a community of harmony. Respect and tolerance run as golden threads, permeating every aspect of school life. As one pupil stated ‘if someone is different we treat them the same, we accept differences because we are all unique’.

"Displays celebrating cultural difference, for example, on China following a visit by the executive principal, further embed pupils’ understanding of a wide range of countries and cultures."

Highlights of the trip included visiting the panda sanctuary, which is home to the 10 baby pandas which made the headlines all over the world, and visiting the Great Wall.

Mr Bramwell concluded: "We were aware that a visit to China can be seen as controversial, especially in relation to issues around human rights.

"However we firmly believe as a school, that communicating, interacting and creating a common understanding are key elements and agents for change.

"Our hosts were open and explored our concept of China as we did around their concepts of western life.

"There are many differences but more similarities.

"One unique experience was being taken out for a Szechwan Hot Pot meal. Best described as a large “fondue” with a pot of very fiery sauce in the centre in which you cook your food. Local delicacies of ducks intestines and sheep’s stomach certainly widened my previous culinary range. But when in China…"