On the 17th of March a group of 10 Principals from Canterbury travelled to China to visit a number of schools

The trip to China was an opportunity to develop positive relationships with schools and education bureau's in different districts in China. This partnership will lead to:

1. Reciprocal short term visits from students to and from New Zealand.

2. Long term international student placements in New Zealand.

3. Online cultural lessons between NZ and Chinese schools.

We flew into Hong Kong on the 17th of March and visited 2 schools on the 18th before jumping on an express train to Changsha in Mainland China. We spent two days in Changsha where we visited a further 6 schools and attended a conference with over a hundred Principals. This was a great chance to discuss the pedagogical approaches to education in China as well as in New Zealand. On the 20th of March we travelled further north to Zhengzhou to visit a further 10 schools before travelling to Beijing to catch a flight to Christchurch arriving at 3am on the 25th of March.

From this trip Geraldine High School has signed memorandum of understandings with 10 schools from China. This means we are open to working with these schools on the three points mentioned at the start of the article.

Thank you to the "Global Youth Ambassador Programme" that funded this great opportunity to make connections across the world.