Our Prep School thoroughly enjoyed a visit from some special guests yesterday - a group of International Students from our Senior School accompanied by Miss Cheers, our Head of International Students.

Our Year 9 and 10 girls from Hong Kong, Spain and Afghanistan were thrilled to spend the morning with the younger ones; telling them about themselves, where they are from, as well as leading them in fun and engaging activities that helped them learn more about the different countries, cultures and traditions from around the world.

The little ones in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 were taught dances and songs which the older ones had grown up with including ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ in Mandarin and “Soy una taza” (or “I am a teacup”), a popular Spanish children’s song to help learn Spanish vocabulary complete with actions, while Year 3 and 4 enjoyed learning some daily expressions and how to write their names in Persian.

Year 5 and Year 6 were challenged to learn the same songs and dances as the little ones in less than 30 minutes which they then had to perform to the whole school! At Assembly the school gathered to watch them rise to the occasion – everyone was very impressed they had managed to learn all the words and actions. They showed they were indeed paying attention and had great fun performing the songs and an Attan dance with scarves. It was a wonderful experience allowing our staff and students to truly celebrate the diversity of our school community and we look forward to more cross-school collaborations in the future.

Miss Cheers said “It was really lovely to see our International students sharing their cultures and traditions with the younger ones. It goes to show we don’t always need to wait for an official international day to celebrate different cultures. We have such a multicultural school community, we wanted to make the most of our international connections and be able to celebrate and share our different cultures and traditions throughout the year. This entire visit was very much student-led, and I was so impressed with the girls – both the group who led the activities and the ones at the Prep School. They had 30 minutes to learn a song and a dance and they managed to do it so well. I felt proud of the older ones for being such great teachers and sharing their cultures with such warmth, willingness and generosity.”