A ROSSENDALE school played host to a group of teachers and pupils from China as part of an information exchange programme.

The teachers, Ye Fan and Fu Zhang, and 14-year-old pupils Zhuan Wang and Yijie Huang from the Kuncheng Middle School, visited Alder Grange School and Sixth Form in Rawtenstall to learn how a British school operates with a view to adopting some of the strategies.

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Kuncheng Middle School is located in the city of Changshu within the Jiangsu Province of Greater Shanghai.

Alder Grange has had a partnership with the school since November last year.

Deputy head teacher Simon Varley said: “When we heard that staff and students from our partner school were visiting the UK, our school community was really excited by the opportunity to host students in our school for two days.

“A group of 23 Alder Grange students were selected to act as buddies, and the Chinese students followed Alder Grange students’ timetables over a two-day period.

“This provided our visitors with a first-hand experience of life in a UK secondary school.

“This was an excellent opportunity for our pupils to reflect on cultural similarities and differences between our two nations.”

In addition, the Alder Grange students had the opportunity to enjoy conversations with their English-speaking Chinese visitors.

Mr Varley said: “Through these experiences, our students were able to develop their own self-confidence and social interaction skills. This was a unique opportunity to really find out about life for a teenager from another country.

“It was great to witness how quickly the groups of pupils, usually separated by a distance of some 5,500 miles, quickly found that they had many things in common such as sport and a fascination with each other’s language.”