CHILDREN at a Dorchester school celebrated the different cultures of the world.

Pupils at Sunninghill Preparatory School, in South Court Avenue, were able to push their usual timetable to one side and enjoy a languages educational activity day to celebrate the European Day of Languages.

The whole school, consisting of around 140 pupils, joined in by dressing up in traditional costume from different countries and bringing in cakes from around the globe. The European Day of Languages is a Council of Europe initiative that is held annually to promote languages and cultural diversity.

Pupils, aged three to 13, were able to share their knowledge of different cultures and languages, discuss each other’s costumes and enjoy the various cakes during break time. The children also had an assembly in the morning with a cultural diversity theme and year six pupils gave a presentation on a number of different countries and presented facts about each one.

Sunninghill Preparatory School celebrated the European Day of Languages two days early in September because this year it fell on a Sunday.

Head of languages at the school, Nathalie Shilliday, said: “We’ve been celebrating the European Day of Languages for four years now.

“The pupils took the challenge very seriously and at the end of the day many traditional recipes were tasted and shared.

“The day proved to be the perfect opportunity for the pupils at Sunninghill to discover a little something from a different part of the world.”

She added: “The children look forward to it every time and they all know it’s going to be languages day.

“I think it’s good to open their eyes to other cultures in a fun way.”

Pupil Vittoria Dagostino, 11, said: “I have been looking forward to it because we get to have lots of fun.

“I brought in some Italian biscuits.”

Another pupil Livi Francis-Pope, 11, added: “This is my first languages day but I have really enjoyed it.”