Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle reports that some schools in the northeast England have started to give Mandarin lessons to their pupils. Some have organised or are preparing school trips to China. Hilary French, the headmistress of Central Newcastle High School, whose pupils are just back from a trip to Beijing, said GDST (The Girls’ Day School Trust, which Central High is part of) is planning to open two new schools in Shanghai.

Another school, Park View Community School, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, has fromed a partnership with Suzhou High School near Shanghai. What’s more, young children at Bedewell Primary, in Hebburn, South Tyneside, having been learning Mandarin for the last two years, after the school formed a link with one in China.

The Evening Chronicle reports:

Teenagers from a Tyneside school have recently returned from a trip designed to challenge their understanding of the world.

Almost 30 pupils, aged between 15 and 18, from Central Newcastle High School, in Jesmond, travelled to the Far East to China’s capital Beijing.

Here the pupils met with children from three of the city’s top schools; Beijing Bayi High School, Anhuali Primary School and No 6 Kindergarten.