Warwickshire News Mine

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County schools celebrate the Year of the Ox - Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Pupils across the county are celebrating Chinese New Year on Monday by participating in all kinds of oriental-themed activities and wishing their friends: “may the year of the ox bring you success happiness and prosperity”.

Seven schools in the county have forged new links with partner schools in China through Warwickshire County Council’s International Development Office.

A group of schools went to Ruyuan in China’s Guangdong province in November on a Chinese state-funded visit.

They are: The Willows CofE Primary School, Rugby High School, Queen Elizabeth School and Sports College in Atherstone, Keresley Newland Primary School at Keresley End, Birchwood Primary School in Polesworth, English Martyrs Catholic Primary School in Rugby and Kenilworth School and Sports College.

The planned New Year activities involving pupils in the schools include Tai Chi demonstrations, origami and tasting oriental food.

The schools have made strong ties with China thanks to a school linking project arranged by Warwickshire County Council’s children’s services and funded by HSBC bank, the British Council, the DCSF and Hanban, the Chinese language and cultural organisation.

Teaching staff, including heads, have visited link schools in China and students have been learning Mandarin. The initiative aims to cement the association that Warwickshire County Council has forged with the economically booming city of Shenzhen and its second link with the rural area of Ruyuan.

The next year will see teachers arriving from the partner schools in China to teach Mandarin to our students and further develop ICT communication links.

Warwickshire will also welcome a delegation of civic and education leaders from Ruyuan at the end of March. There are more than 20 schools linked with Shenzuan and a further eight being linked with Ruyuan in 2009.

Chinese New Year 2009 is the Year of the Ox. People born under this sign are said to be good leaders, methodical and good at making things.

Chinese New Year, also known as the spring festival, is the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The spring festival celebrates the start of new life and the season of ploughing and sowing. New Year festivities start on the first day of the lunar month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.