THE Forest High School has welcomed 38 students from Japan.

The students from Reitaku Junior High School, near Tokyo, were visiting England for a week-long excursion as part of their studies and chose to visit the Cinderford-based school to experience life as a secondary school student in England.

The students arrived from their host families in Cheltenham to a welcome from the school’s head boy and head girl. They then attended lessons with the school students for the morning, integrating into the classes and getting involved in all the different subjects such as maths, English, art and hairdressing.

In the afternoon they put on a display of Japanese culture, having eight stations of different traditional Japanese games for the school students to each have a go at and learn about. Following the display, the Japanese students performed a short play and spoke very good English.

Co-ordinator Laura Kinchella said: “This was an excellent opportunity for not only the Japanese to experience our culture, but for our students to learn from them. They got along extremely well and we hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did.”

Gareth Reynolds, associate head, added: “The cultural visit proved to be a real success, and it sparked conversations of travel and exploration, with Japan clearly marked as one for the future.”