St Bees School is aiming to host West Cumbria's largest Chinese New Year festival celebrations with over 500 children set to attend.

The event will be held on Friday at the school with a host of activities planned.

They will include Chinese cooking demonstrations from Jasmine Palace, Whitehaven, chopstick challenges, traditional Chinese printing, calligraphy and paper cutting workshops, cultural Chinese presentations, Chinese games, indoor fireworks – and much more.

A school spokesman said: "The festivities mark the fusion and “West meets East” ethos of St Bees School."

The school is managed by Chinese educational experts, Full Circle Education Group, and students are busy preparing for the day, as an extension to their usual Mandarin

classes several times a week.

Year 7 students are particularly excited, with one youngster saying: “I’m really excited to show everyone what I’ve learned about China and how much Mandarin I’ve learnt over the past few months.

"It’s great we get to celebrate the Chinese New Year as well as Christmas and the English New Year, too.”

It is open to all. Email welcome@stbeesschool.co.uk to find out more.