Loreto students celebrate Chinese New Year in style
LORETO Secondary School, Bray, which is one of just eight schools in Ireland that runs a Confucius Classroom, celebrated Chinese New Year on Wednesday, February 21, with an array of Chinese music, dress, and culture.
A group from St Patrick’s National School also joined the celebrations and participated in games and calligraphy, as well as having the opportunity to dress in traditional clothing.
Loreto Secondary School, Bray has been hosting a UCD Confucius Classroom since September 2007.
Confucius Classrooms are an extension of the Confucius Institute programme. Whereas Confucius Institutes are university-based, Confucius Classrooms are partnerships with local schools and education centres with the goal of strengthening the Chinese language and culture programme at the school and in the local area.
During the school year 2006/2007, the school explored the option of offering a programme of Chinese Studies to students in Loreto Bray. Ambassador Zhang Xinsen was contacted for guidance on how best to introduce a Chinese studies programme into the school. A representative of the Ambassador responded to the school’s letter and suggested contact be made with the Confucius Institute for Ireland. The school was also informed of the links between the Confucius Institute and University College Dublin (UCD).
Following talks with the UCD Confucius Institute, Loreto Bray introduced a Confucius Institute funded programme of Chinese studies into the school.
The programme started in September of the school year 2007/2008 and was offered to first year students.
It was intended that the Chinese Studies Programme would continue throughout the six years the girls spent in second level school.
Loreto Secondary School Bray successfully became the first Confucius Classroom in Ireland and is currently the only one in County Wicklow.
The programme runs after school every Wednesday afternoon and offers Mandarin Chinese classes to students for free.
Classes are taught by professional native speakers from the UCD Confucius Institute.
Over the past 17 years the programme has proved greatly successful and this year, students from Loreto, Pres Bray, Woodbrook College and St David’s, Greystones attend these classes.