On Friday 7th June, St James C of E Primary held a leaving ceremony for the Chinese students and teachers that had joined them and other schools for a week of learning, fun and making new friends!
50 students and teachers from Nanjing visited three Vine Trust Schools: St James’ C of E Primary School Colchester, St Andrew’s C of E Primary School Weeley and Colne Engaine Church of England Primary School. Throughout the week the children and their friends took part in team building activities, explored different parts of Colchester and learnt about one another’s cultures.
The leaving ceremony took place at St James with a selection of pupils from each participating Vine school and the Chinese students attending. The children were welcomed by Headteacher Mrs Fawcett, who is also the trusts International Ambassador. She said:
“It has been an honour to host all of you. There was a slight moment where all the children felt a bit awkward upon meeting but that barrier between the children did not last longer than 5 minutes.”
“It was so warming to see the friendships flourish through the week. It has been a real pleasure seeing
strangers arrive and friends leave.”
After the warm introduction, St Andrew’s visitors put on a variety of short cultural performances such as a traditional Chinese dance called Dai, a spoken poem and a piano symphony.
Colne Engaine’s visitors then followed with a performance on a traditional Chinese musical instrument and a song sang beautifully called Xiao Mei Man.
The children were very brave to get up and perform in front of their new friends and the performances were a beautiful reflection of Chinese culture.
A Chinese visitor from Weeley said: “I want to say thank you to all the staff and students from St Andrews school. They have been so kind and helpful. The past week has been an unforgettable memory. I will never forget it.”
The Colne children shared a poem they wrote to show their appreciation and love to the Nanjing exchange students and it finished by saying ‘friendship was the best gift of the week!’. What a beautiful line – we agree!
Colne students added: “Having this opportunity has been so exciting, the school has been so busy and although we started as strangers, they leave as friends from across the globe.”
Towards the end of the ceremony, St Andrews presented a music video they had produced as a look back on the week of fun and making memories. This showed lots of happy faces throughout a week that we’re sure will be remembered forever.
To finish the afternoon, the children were awarded prizes and certificates for their recent joint art show with the Chinese students.
When it was time to say farewell, the Chinese pupils gave their new friends national flags to wave them off with – there were lots of hugs, ‘I’ll miss yous’ and even some tears. The children have made friendships for life and hope to meet again one day.
We want to say thank you to the schools involved for participating in this amazing experience.