A Croydon school which specialises in teaching mandarin held an evening celebrating its links with China earlier this month.

Harris Academy in South Norwood is one of the few state schools in the UK to teach Mandarin at GCSE and A Level and is twinned to four Chinese schools.

To mark the academy’s growing links, it held a mandarin evening at its south campus on Thursday October 11.

Nick Soar, Executive Principal, told spoke of the relationship between business and mandarin, particularly given Croydon's growing reputation as South London’s 'Silicon Valley'.

David Stirling, CEO of Croydon-based Zotefoam, echoed this, speaking of how his company produced foam for leading brand names around the world, with mandarin being a vital tool.

Harris South Norwood is part of the Harris Federation, which introduces students to languages as early as primary stage.

The school is one of 15 Federation academies (primary and secondary) where mandarin is taught to its Years 7 to 12 and will be extended to all year groups (7 to 13) from September 2019.