Students from The Mountbatten School have taken part in an unprecedented international school trip to China to advance their Mandarin language skills.

The trip, organised by the Mandarin Excellence Programme, saw 1,197 students and 157 teachers from 61 schools embark on a ten-day tour in July to enhance language skills and cultural familiarity.

The prestigious initiative, delivered by the Institute of Education, has guided over 11,000 young learners in England towards Mandarin fluency since its initiation eight years ago.

The July tour, which ran from 4 July to 15 July, marked the first substantial trip of this kind since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It followed a pilot tour involving 132 students last year.

The pupils embarked on an expansive cultural and language-learning programme, which included visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou among other cities.

Activities involved city explorations, fan-making, martial arts classes and visiting famous sights such as The Great Wall.

Students of Mountbatten School were hosted by Beijing Normal University and had the opportunity to collaborate with local school pupils during their stay.

Morning sessions of intensive Mandarin language lessons were followed with afternoon cultural experiences that offered unique insights into Chinese society.

The importance of Mandarin as a global language cannot be underestimated, ranking as the second most important foreign language for UK global influence according to British Council research.

Meeting British entrepreneurs and government officials in China provided a chance for the young learners to understand potential opportunities and challenges of working in the world's most populous nation.

This initiative, therefore, provides these students with invaluable experience and progress towards linguistic fluency.

Mr Davenport, Assistant Headteacher at Mountbatten said: "These experiences have not only broadened our horizons but have also fostered a greater appreciation for the diversity and beauty of the country. This programme has also been an extraordinary opportunity for our students to build friendships across borders.

"For me, one of the most precious memories will be our students sitting with their Chinese peers, and being children together: chatting and laughing, posing together in photos, swapping contact details, and simply enjoying being in each other’s company. It reminds us all that wherever we go in the World, people are more the same than they are different."