Pupils at South Wolds Community School will have another team to get behind in the 2012 Olympic Games, as they’ve started to develop a special relationship with the Japanese athletes who will be training at a nearby university. It’s all part of a wider project that has been set up to welcome the Japanese team to the UK, and it is also working to educate local children about the language, culture and sports of Japan. So far, it’s having a very positive impact. Musubi Project is being run in partnership with Loughborough University and is supported by the East Midlands Development Agency, and involves a huge range of activities and social events that bring in schools from across the region and introduce athletes to the local area. Termly Musubi days, for example, designed and run by South Wolds pupils, invite local students to participate in workshops and conferences related to Japanese culture – and encourage senior students to share their knowledge and experience with the juniors. South Wolds pupils have also designed an award-winning website to support the project – and have established an annual visit to the Olympic Training Centre in Tokyo.

The project is growing rapidly, as local schools are being encouraged to host their own Musubi days and join in the celebrations around the coming together of these two very different cultures. Anne Rajakumar, Head of Japanese at South Wolds School, explains that ‘the word Musubi is Japanese and is a type of Knot. It symbolizes the spirit of cooperation and working together.’

The students are developing great project management skills through the organisation of events, and are improving their Japanese language skills through the interaction with the athletes. In fact, the project has led to a rapid increase in the number of students opting to take Japanese at A level.

Language(s): Japanese

South Wolds Community School is a comprehensive specialist language college, located on the outskirts of Nottingham. The school has 1,050 students including the sixth form. Pupils in Years 7 to 13 have the opportunity to learn Japanese.