THE CHILDREN at St Ives School in Haslemere took part in a three-day languages festival.

The objective of the festival was to explore language in its widest context, as well as provide the children with a brief introduction to German, Italian and Welsh, on top of French and Spanish, which they learn as part of the school curriculum.

The festival also looked at how animals communicate, both with each other and with humans.

Each class was given a country and the children were tasked with bringing in items relating to that country to build a display in their classrooms.

The children were given a passport and "travelled" to the different countries on a fact-finding mission to discover details such as capital city, language(s) spoken, food and famous landmarks and people.

As well as looking at language and culture, the children enjoyed a variety of arts and craft sessions from around the world.

The children honed their singing skills and performed a rendition of a foreign language song and donned their dancing shoes for an international dance workshop and competition. They also played a game of French boules.

The children enjoyed French crepes, Spanish magdalenas, and pastries and goodies from the French cafe which was set up and run by Years 3 to 6.

Kay Goldsworthy, headteacher at St Ives, said: "The aim of this festival was to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity by exploring the many aspects of languages and we have achieved this objective in abundance.

"The children have enjoyed an action-packed, fun-filled and wholly educational three days."