Six Year 12 students have just returned from a jam-packed, cultural and educational exchange to Kyoto in Japan. Students spent five days at Ritsumeikan High School and University where they took part in the ‘Japan Super Science Fair’, along with 30 other schools from all across the Globe.

Our students spent six weeks planning their own projects to showcase at the fair; ‘The use of vertical gardens in a World with a rising population and less space’ and ‘The use of biodegradable housing wall insulation (Sheep’s wool) as an alternative to plastic-containing insulation.’ Both projects were presented at the fair and our students spent the morning swapping ideas and learning from the students from other countries.

Part of the fair was dedicated to cultural learning from each other, so our students got to take part in games unique to each country like calligraphy from Japan and the paper-flip challenge Ddakji from Korea.

There was some downtime for our students to explore the city of Kyoto, when their Japanese buddies took them for Sushi and shopping (yes, they did run to the Pokémon shop)!

On the final day, our students gave an unforgettable performance where they shared all about Bonfire night and other British celebrations following an impressive whistle-stop tour of regional accents by Joe whilst dishing out our famous Parkin and Digestive biscuits for the audience.

Our students deepened their knowledge of the Japanese culture by visiting one of the many shrines and Nijō castle before saying ‘Sayonara’ with a belly full of the best Ramen they had ever eaten.

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