PUPILS were given a taste of life in Ukraine after teachers returned from a fact-finding trip to Ukraine.

Staff at Bickerton Primary gave a presentation to children and joined in celebrations including food tasting, flag and face painting and music.

The school recently forged strong links with Hope School in Odessa.

Teacher Kate Boothby said: “Overall, it was a fun day which really helped to raise the profile of our international link with both parents and children.

“The pupils now know a lot more about our partner school and Ukraine in general, which is great.

“Next year, we hope to develop the link further. Some of our older pupils now have e-mail pals and we’ll try and directly link more children. We will communicate school-to-school, hopefully using webcams and class e-mails.

“We also hope that we can help our partner school to arrange a visit to the UK for some teachers and pupils and we look forward to the prospect of hosting Ukrainian visitors.

“As a small, rural school, we think it’s really valuable to have an international link as it helps the children to have an awareness and tolerance of other cultures, languages and traditions.”