WHEN it comes to celebrating other cultures, Crossways Junior pupils in Thornbury are of the ‘go big or go home’ school of philosophy.

The children planned a busy programme of activities and entertainment to kick off the Chinese New Year. The week-long festivities began with a quick introduction to the Chinese zodiac.

Pupils then found out which astrological animal sign they were associated with and whether the typical personality traits conferred upon it matched their own.

Chinese fever took over every aspect of school life, with Asian cookery lessons and dance classes and calligraphy workshops.

The building itself received a Chinese overhaul with lanterns hanging off every inch of ceiling and Asian-inspired pictures plastered all over the walls.

Teacher Suzanne Elmore said: "A highlight of the week was a full size dragon head, kindly loaned to us from another school, which enabled us to try our own celebratory dance with whole classes creating a dragon and dancing to Chinese music. All in all, this was a very successful week."