Happy New Year: eight different ways

They had the opportunity to learn a number of festive phrases during a lunchtime event organised by the Modern Foreign Languages department.

Pupils at the school who speak Polish, Tagalog, Malayalam, Arabic, Portuguese, German, French and Spanish were on-hand to teach their peers during the workshop which was open to the whole school community.

The taster language event on the theme of "Christmas around the world" was well attended with many pupils dropping by during their lunch break to choose a language to learn.

As soon as each pupil had learnt about two festive traditions and how to pronounce two phrases for one of the languages, they were invited to try their new knowledge out at a "judges" table of pupil representatives for each language. If successful in remembering what they had learnt, they were able to choose a treat from a selection of festive foods from different countries around the world.

A year 8 Filipino pupil said: "I had a great time teaching other people our language, I really had fun and would like to do it again," while one of the Polish pupils said: "I never thought so many people would be interested in learning Polish."

Some of the pupils from the languages event then joined a "Christmas around the World" party organised by the humanities department and the Leveller's club. Pupils took part in a variety of different activities about Christmas traditions and foods from around the world, Victorian games and an ultimate Christmas quiz.