Whanganui High students excited over China trip

Students from Whanganui High School will be broadening their education with a spell in China next year.

The school has received funding from the New Zealand-China Sister Schools Fund, which offers grants of up to $5000, and that means the High School group will visit their sister schools in Xuzhou, a major city in Jiangsu Province.

Alexandra Ferretti, the school's international director, said everyone was really excited at the opportunity.

"Students who might not otherwise be able to travel overseas will now have this amazing educational opportunity to experience a different culture," she said.

"It's the kind of trip they will remember for their whole lives."

The students will be drawn from across the school, and are likely to include Maori, technology and Mandarin language students.

"We're in the very early stages of planning, and the trip will take place towards the end of next year."

Whanganui High has longstanding ties with China and was one of the first Confucius classrooms to be set up in New Zealand. Two Mandarin language assistants come to the school and also teach classes at other schools and to adults.

It has had sister school relationships with Xuzhou No13 and No1 junior middle schools since 2008, and Ms Ferretti said many students from these schools had become long-term, successful international students at WHS.

The school has also hosted visiting groups of students and staff from Xuzhou schools each year for a number of years, while other schools in Whanganui have also been introduced to Xuzhou schools, leading to new sister relationships.

"It's important for our relationship with our sister schools not to become one-sided," Ms Ferretti said.

"We are keen to keep building the student-teacher connections between Whanganui and Xuzhou, and in the longer term this might lead to a sister city relationship."

China is New Zealand's second-largest trading partner overall, and the largest market for our international education services.