Queens School in Chester teaches Mandarin Chinese and wins award

Prestigious Mandarin Chinese language honour for Chester school

Published in the Evening Leader

Date: 22 October 2008
A LEADING Chester school has been recognised for its excellent work to promote the study of Mandarin Chinese.
A group of Year 8 pupils from the all-girl Queen's School, will now visit China at half-term to practise their language skills.

This comes after the school won the coveted accolade of being designated a Confucius Classroom by the Office of ChineseADVERTISEMENTLanguage Council International – otherwise known as Hanban and under the umbrella of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust's Confucius Institute.

Confucius Classrooms, named in honour of the celebrated Chinese thinker and philosopher, promote and support the learning of Mandarin across the globe. Only a handful of schools in the UK have been recognised in this way.

The school is celebrating being the only independent school in the North of England to have received the recognition

With more than 100 girls at Queen's already studying the subject as part of their curriculum, the school has also offered children from Chester primary schools the opportunity to learn the world's most widely-spoken language.

Pupils from Overleigh St Mary's in Handbridge, Upton Heath, Mickle Trafford, Christleton and Guilden Sutton enjoy a weekly after school club where they learn basic conversational Mandarin.

Isobel Jones, a pupil from Overleigh St Mary's Primary School, said: "I love learning Mandarin as the language is very interesting to listen to and speak." Fellow pupil Olivia McNee added: "Drawing the Chinese characters is fun too."

Queen's School headmistress Catherine Buckley said: "We are very proud to have been honoured by Hanban.

"Mandarin is a very significant world language, spoken by over one billion people and it will be a great advantage to young people in Chester to have an understanding of both the language and the culture which underpins it."