Supra-Curricular Mandarin

This year, we rounded off our vibrant carousel of modern foreign languages with a two-week taster course in Mandarin, coinciding with Chinese New Year. As a result, a whopping 48 pupils across Year 7 have signed up for a supra-curricular Mandarin club; attracting a third of the cohort to an after-school activity is a triumph!

Mandarin is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan. It is also one of the official languages of Singapore and the United Nations. More than a billion people across the world speak the language, so there is every reason for our pupils to learn to speak it too.

The sessions got under way this week, with Dragons Teaching providing three Mandarin teachers, including the company’s founder, Marcus Reoch. Pupils, each of whom have been assigned to one of three groups (The Tigers, The Rabbits, and The Monkeys) will be taught every Wednesday in the Lower School until the end of the 22-23 academic year.

During these lessons, pupils will have access to the fundamentals of Chinese language and culture and will be guided to the early stages of GCSE by the end of Trinity 2023. Pupils and parents will receive regular updates to monitor progress as they continue through this exhilarating journey.

The pupils are already relishing this opportunity to learn a new language, and there was a real sense of energy and excitement around the Lower School as they poured out of their lessons yesterday.