Little dragons take centre stage

About 60 children from Rustington Community Primary School’s two reception classes, Germany class and Italy class, were dressed in red – a colour which the Chinese believe is lucky – to herald the passing of the year of the rabbit and the beginning of the year of the dragon.

Youngsters had a fun-filled day at the school, learning about the Chinese culture and age old traditions of the Orient. Children had their taste buds tantalised during the day-long celebration, trying some traditional, Chinese cuisine.

After a brief break, with stomachs comfortably filled, the excited pupils then had the chance to build their own, baby dragon puppets, during a Chinese-inspired arts and crafts session. Children were then shown examples of traditional mandarin script, with some curious youngsters even getting the chance to learn how to write their own names in the complex writing form.

The day was rounded off in spectacular fashion with all 60 pupils taking part in a parade and dragon dance through the school, in the afternoon.

The school’s home-made dragon took centre stage during the procession which was organised by reception teachers, David Burrows and Kathy Hicks.

Mr Burrows said: “All the children had a brilliant day. They absolutely loved it, which is so satisfying to know.

“Obviously, we want to give the children a broad range of opportunities to learn about different cultures and people around the world. This is perfect time of year, with the dawning of the Chinese New Year. We try to do something like this every year.

“The children find it really interesting, especially with the dragons – they loved the dragons.”