Far East culture for Southill Primary School, Weymouth

Southill Primary School youngsters donned Chinese costumes and perfected a dragon dance under the watchful eye of visiting Olwyn Morgan.

They also put on an action-packed performance for the rest of the school to demonstrate what they had learned.

Teacher Robyn Greensmith said: “We had a fantastic Chinese New Year day as part of our religious education topic learning about other religions and cultures.”

Around 90 children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 got involved in the activities at the Sycamore Road school.

Mrs Morgan, grandmother of Southill Primary School students Erica and Victor Yuan, kindly dropped in to oversee proceedings.

Teaching assistant Lyn Crosbie said: “Erica and Victor’s mum had previously been in to do various things for us and she put forward Mrs Morgan.

“She regularly goes over to China to see her family so she spoke to the children about her trips.

“She also brought in various Chinese artefacts and other items she had. We were incredibly grateful.”

Pupils tried on various Chinese outfits and also got to grips with Chinese food – with a little bit of help from Mrs Morgan.

Mrs Crosbie said: “It was really good. All the children got involved and they really enjoyed it.

“They all helped out with the dragon dance and held an assembly the next day for the rest of the school.

“It was great to see them put what they had learned into practice. It was also nice to involve the entire school.”

She added: “We try and celebrate as many religious festivals as we can throughout the year.

“We marked Chinese New Year last year so we were happy to do it again. It fitted in nicely with our topic work.”

Year 2 student Lucy Chapman, seven, said: “I enjoyed dressing up in the Chinese costume. They only wear them for special celebrations. We had a fun day with all the activities.”

Reception youngster Kai Robinson, four-and-a-half, said: “I loved dressing up in the red costume.”