A Rossendale school is bidding to forge fresh links with China after successfully hosting 10 headteachers from the Nanking area.

Alder Grange headteacher David Hampson was so encouraged by the cultural exchange, with his counterparts from Jiangsu province, that he is now looking to create a formal partnership with a Chinese school, from which staff and students will benefit.

Ten tutors from Nanking were invited to the Rawt-enstall school through Suman Education Intern- ational, so they could observe western teaching methods.

They watched a maths lessons in progress and later had lunch with sixth form students, alongside Mr Hampson.

He said: “We were approached by Suman to host a visit at the school to show the headteachers how a school like ours operates within the education system in Britain, and how elements of this can be adopted back in their province.

“The feedback from our visitors was very positive, and they seemed very impressed by our students and the facilities.

“We’re now hoping that we can strengthen the links with China in the hope of creating a partner school for Alder Grange where both students and staff can take part in exchange programmes.”

It is not the only one in the valley which has been forging links with the Near East as part of their curriculum.

Julie Duffell, assistant head at Fearns Community College, started Chinese language classes in late 2010, with an opportunity for students to became pen pals with students over there.