Year 6 art immersion dayYear 6 thoroughly enjoyed their art immersion day this week. Our guest demonstrator was Wu Qiong. The students learned how to use Chinese brushes to make the 8 essential brushstrokes used in Chinese calligraphy. They also discussed the development of Chinese writing from the earliest pictograms to the... modern Mandarin characters. They applied the calligraphic brushstrokes to paint plants and branches outdoors. The drawings use washes of ink and details added in a darker ink. Throughout the day students improved their skill with the brush and control with the ink. See more
Chinese calligraphy and brushwork in Year 7’s art immersion dayYear 7 were joined by visiting artist Qiong Wu today for their art immersion day. Qiong Wu, our art teacher Rachel, and Mandarin teacher Feng worked with the pupils on Chinese calligraphy and brushwork techniques. The students’ work was full of life and expression and their understanding of Chinese... art, narratives and the origin of some letter forms has been enriched by today’s experience. Here they are exploring the way that the image of a bird on a branch has evolved into the character for “bird”. See more
Year of the Rat, Chinese New Year celebrationsIn celebration of Chinese New Year, Reception class, Y5 and Y6 led a special Chinese New Year assembly. Y5 gave us a great display of the famous Chinese dragon dance, whilst other Y5 students provided the musical accompaniment. Y6 performed a Chinese zodiac story: ‘The Great Race’ which explored... an origin story of the Zodiac. This was accompanied by a slide show which introduced some cultural knowledge about Chinese New Year to the students, for example the symbolic meanings of the dragon and other Spring festival customs. One of the highlights of the assembly was the beautiful Dragon Dance, performed by Reception Class. Pupils in Years 5 to 9 have also been set the task of finding all the hidden Chinese rats in the school and grounds. Drawings of rats have been hidden throughout the school and each pupil has been given a score sheet to see who can find the most by the end of this week. In the Lower Years, Year 4 led a wonderful assembly about Chinese Mythology and specifically ‘Nian’, the beast who lives under the sea and visits villages at New Year. The pupils in the lower years learned about different customs to scare away Nian, specifically loud noises like fireworks and wearing red or decorating your house in red. See more
Year 7-12 Activities day trip to Chinese cooking lesson26 students went to a Chinese restaurant in Thames Ditton to learn how to make spring rolls and dumplings. The rolling was strangely relaxing and a huge number of dumplings and spring rolls were made. We then got to eat our food along with some fried rice. It was a really sociable way to learn to cook. We stopped on the way back at a Chinese supermarket to enable students to buy ingredients so that they could hone their newfound skills.
China Trip 2019Pupils from the Middle and Upper Years set off from Heathrow at 5am for ‘a trip of a lifetime’ to China. Their itinerary was to spend 10 days exploring different cities, cultures and sites of historical importance, the activities and interactions along the way enabled the pupils to put their Mandarin... Continue reading+1
Y6 Play JianziTo make the most of a beautiful day, the Year 6 pupils played Jianzi, a Chinese game which involves kicking a shuttlecock during their Mandarin lesson!