As I sit in my hotel room writing the final ‘blog’ of the trip, I feel absolutely privileged to have been able to come to China and to see teaching and learning in Shenzhen, as I have really developed a new perspective of our place in the world educationally. It has been fascinating learning about Chinese Culture from our new friends, including Will - our guide and English representative from Opportunity Education. Whilst there are cultural differences between China and the UK, there are huge educational similarities and of course children around the world are...children - who like to play, laugh, cry, sing and smile. We have seen lots of smiles on this trip and were greeted so warmly by the teachers and children at each of the schools we visited. 

Today didn’t involve visits to school or presentations to a few hundred educationalists. Instead, it was a day for us to network with staff from CIPTC (China International Personnel Training Centre - the sponsor of our visit) and to have a tour of the extensive training facilities it owns. We also managed to network with the other visiting English Schools through the medium of shopping at possibly the largest tech market around - think Westquay times....ten! It was amazing to see so much technology on sale and I look forward to sharing some with the children when I return. If you would like to find out more about China, please do email adminoffice@fairoak-jun.hants.sch.uk to book a space at PIPs on the 6th of November. 

Our last dinner in China (although we will probably have some food in the airport tomorrow before we fly) was from the Dong Bei region of China, found towards the North East of the country. The food was delicious and was a wonderful end to our culinary journey. 

After dinner we watched the famous Shenzhen light show. This was utterly breathtaking! Please do look through the pictures, although they won’t really do adequate justice to the show. 

As we are flying out from Hong Kong airport tomorrow evening, Mrs Tuxford, Miss Coxhead and I will be spending a few hours in Hong Kong - something we are really looking forward to. 

This whole experience has been so inspirational and one which I am glad to have been able to share with you through these blogs. Please do catch me on the school gate if you want to have a quick chat about the visit or, as mentioned earlier, come along to PIPs. We have made so many friends during this trip and I look forward to deepening these friendships further in the future, so that our pupils develop as Global Citizens.

I wish you all a lovely half term. I look forward to seeing you all back at school on Tuesday 5th November.

Mr De Silva