On Friday 4^th November we welcomed 37 visiting students and their accompanying teachers from Shukutoku Sugamo Senior High School, Tokyo.  We assembled a crack team of Year 10 students to be our school ambassadors, and they gave our visitors an extremely warm welcome followed by tours of the school.  

The Japanese students then gave some excellent presentations on life in Japan and Japanese culture, where our students got to learn about everything from how instant noodles are made to the origins of video game culture in Japan. Our students then presented equally great presentations about life in Cheltenham, alongside some terrific musical interludes from our talented vocalists and instrumentalists.

The afternoon session was 45 minutes of joy where our students mingled with the Japanese students by taking part in Japanese games, wearing traditional kimonos, learning how to write Japanese script and a whole host of other activities.   

It’s great to have partnership back on the agenda, and this was a really good example of the richness that cultural exchange brings to school life. Our Year 10 student ambassadors could not have been better role models for the school – their organisation and execution of making this day a success has been highly commendable.  

As we said farewell to our visitors, Mr Leatherbarrow reluctantly handed back his Kimono, and the students returned to their lessons with a greater understanding of the world they live in.