Following the MEP trip to China last July, I received a message from the organising team in London inviting me to bring four students along to the Chinese Embassy to give a speech to diplomats and ministers about their adventure to China.

‘Why our school?’ I wondered, but really it wasn’t much of a surprise, given the boys’ impressive contributions during their trip, delivering speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies of our stay at Tianjin Normal University, and even hosting the inter-school talent contest. I always tell them they’re the best (behaviour, engagement, attitude) and this entire class always exceed expectations. 

And so I took Aaron, Noah, Ashley and Leo, to London on Wednesday for a visit to the embassy. All of them delivered speeches during their visit to China, so got first choice on the embassy visit. 

Of course, we had to grab lunch first, so headed to the very trendy HaiDiLao hotpot restaurant, where we ate lotus root, ox tongue, among many other things! We then stopped off for some waffles before heading to the embassy. 

The boys did SBS proud with their bilingual speech about their trip to Tianjin. Other schools who visited other Chinese cities for their MEP trip were also at the event to share their experiences. Despite many of these being selective grammars, our boys’ confidence, poise, and warmth really shone through and impressed the dignitaries at the event (although it wasn’t a competition, as I reminded the boys!) and the embassy have requested copy of their speech to include in their own press release. 

After yet more food with a buffet laid on by the embassy, it was time to roll back onto a train back to Didcot. After delays caused a one-hour delay in Reading station, we got back a bit later than expected, but fully fed and on a high from the day. 

A huge well done to Aaron, Leo, Noah and Ashley who served as excellent ambassadors for SBS! 

The MEP is an intensive study programme, which starts in Year 7. Each summer, students in Year 9 get the opportunity to participate in a part-funded, 12-day trip to China, organised centrally by the Department for Education, British Council, and Chinese Confucius Institute. in July 2025, over 60 schools participated in the trip, with over 1,100 students travelling to China. At SBS, we’ve taught Mandarin since 2018 and Mandarin is more popular than ever.