Pupils at a Sheffield School have celebrated the city's wealth of different cultures with a special educational event.
Halfway Junior School hosted a unique Cultural Diversity Day for members of Burngreave's black and ethnic minority communities.
As part of the event, which was organised to mark the school's Cultural Diversity Week, pupils learnt about Somali, Yemeni and Pakistani culture.
Staff from the Burngreave homework clubs gave presentations about the geography and wildlife of Somalia, famous buildings and traditional dress from Yemen and the contribution to science and culture by Islamic societies.
Pupils also watched a film about the tragic earthquake, which struck Kashmir in October 2005.
Headteacher at Halfway Junior School, Kathy Vince, said: “We wanted to encourage the children to think about their own culture and to become more aware of the rich multi-cultural nature of the city they live in. The visit from the Yemeni Somali and Kashmiri Community members really captured their imagination.”
Joani Siddall, a year six pupil, said: “We learned to count to ten in Somali. We also learned about where Somalia is and read a Somali poem.”
Pupils also had the opportunity to dress in traditional Yemeni costume and taste foods from Yemeni culture, inculding samosas, chapattis and houmous.
Georgina Edwards, a year six pupil, said: “We tried all sorts of food. It was spicy. I had never tasted samosas or houmous before.”
The Burngreave homework clubs provide study support to over 300 children from Pakistani, Somali, Yemeni and Carribbean backgrounds and are funded by Burngreave New Deal for Communities (BNDfC).
They form a part of the Burngreave Community Study Support Consortium, which includes groups run by the Yemeni Community Association, Somali Education Breakthrough, Kashmir Educational Trust, the IT Community and Subject Support (IT-CSS) and SADACCA.
Ian Clifford, manager of the Burngreave Community Study Support Consortium, said: “We've shown that we can make a real difference to the achievements of Burngreave's ethnic miniority children at school and we're very keen to share our work and ensure other cultures benefit from our support work, both in Burngreave and further afield.”
“We were very impressed with the children from Halfway Junior School, they were very receptive and enthusastic and were really interested in what we had to say.”
As part of the cultural diversity week, the school has also hosted an African Drummer and the honorary Polish Consulate for Sheffield and found out the links between local comprehensive schools and schools in Africa.