Japanese Exchange 2018 | Highcliffe School

Japanese Exchange 2018

Highcliffe School welcomed fourteen students and two members of staff from our partner school, Johoku High School, for an exciting week packed full of activities.


On Thursday 15th March, Highcliffe School welcomed fourteen students and two staff from our partner school, Johuku High School in Hiroshima, Japan. Their weeks stay with us was packed with a wide range of exciting activities both in school and in our local community.

Highcliffe students and their families did an excellent job of hosting our Japanese buddies at their homes during their stay making sure they enjoyed their time in England and returned to Japan with lots of great memories and most importantly, having made friends for the future. Apart from making sure they were in the right place at the right time, they also took them to lessons and welcomed them into their friendship groups. The Johoku staff also managed to attend some lessons. As a science teacher, Mr Yamano was keen to see how science is taught here at Highcliffe: he was very impressed with what he saw!

The Johoku boys managed to get out and see iconic landmarks like Stonehenge as well as local sites like Christchurch Priory, climbing up the church tower to appreciate the beautiful landscape. We also arranged a meeting with the Mayor of Christchurch, Councillor Geary, where one of the boys dressed up in the ceremonial regalia to show him some of their traditional culture.

The Johoko students were invited to take afternoon tea with our SEN team. Students from year 7, 8 and 9 prepared presentations on our celebration of Easter and our local community of Highcliffe. Traditional Afternoon Tea was served with a range of pastries and cakes from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Johoko students were presented an Oxford Rose hand crocheted flower made by one of our talented year 8 students. The afternoon was a delightful occasion with an opportunity for students to mix in an informal setting, one of the highlights being an impromptu tea dance with students from year 9 demonstrating the Waltz while our guests showed us their traditional Japanese dancing.

Our Japanese friends also attended an art lesson, showing our students their ancient art of origami and demonstrating how to fold a simple piece of paper into a crane. They explained to our students the meaning behind the crane, the links to Hiroshima and how it became the symbol for peace in Japan. As well as showing us Origami, the boys showed our students how to write calligraphy the traditional way, using paintbrushes and ink. Our students left the lesson inspired and wanting to adopt some of the techniques learned, in their own school work. The boys also demonstrated these origami and calligraphy techniques at Ballard School, much to the delight of the younger students there.

The students helped with our Year 12 geography curriculum. Mr Coyle’s Year 12s are currently studying natural disasters. Given the fact that the Johoku students come from Japan, where they have battled many natural disasters, this gave our Year 12 geographers the chance to gather qualitative data on how people adapt to living in potential disaster zones.

Toward the end of the week, Miss Lorek was delighted to be joined by Year 5 students and their parents from our primary feeder schools for an evening learning about Japanese history and culture. She was very impressed with how maturely the Year 5 students listened to the story of the effects of 1945 on Hiroshima. The primary students learnt a traditional Japanese sea shanty dance from the Johoku boys, and got thoroughly stuck in! At the end, there was an opportunity for students to ask our Japanese visitors questions about the different cultures, which led to some surprising revelations!  Thank you to all of the Year 5s and parents who attended – we hope you found it an informative and enjoyable evening.

On their final day in school, the Johoku boys took on members of the Highcliffe U16 basketball team. It has to be said that the Johoku boys performed very well against them. At the end of the day, we held a Farewell Party in the Study Centre, were we tucked into delicious cakes and scones provided by our host families. The Johoku students delivered speeches of thanks and performed a traditional dance for us.

Mr Earnshaw and the Johoku teacher, Mr Wood, expressed their appreciation to all those involved in making the programme work. Mr Bryden would like to express his appreciation to the parents and students who hosted our friends. He also wanted to thank the various staff who ensured that the whole week ran smoothly, and enabled the boys to have a really enjoyable time. We look forward to hosting our friends, Johuku High School again soon.


    Owned by: DBN | Last Published: 12/04/2018 10:06:30 | Next Update: N/A


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