Lion Appears at Fulham Palace Road School
Kensington Wade celebrates Chinese New Year
The Lion Dance aims to bring good fortune for the coming year. Picture: Kensington Wade School
February 12, 2024
Hundreds of families celebrated Chinese New Year this week at a school on the Fulham Palace Road.
Kensington Wade, which is opposite Charing Cross Hospital, is Western Europe’s only Mandarin-English school where all subjects are taught in both languages.
This was the nursery and prep school’s biggest celebration yet for the New Year.
A highlight was the Lion Dance in which performers imitated a lion’s movements in costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion is revered in Chinese culture as a symbol of courage, strength and power.
Internationally-acclaimed musician Beibei Wang also treated the crowd to a performance and workshops in traditional Chinese percussion. Wang has performed as a soloist with, among others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Some 400 attended the event, which was open to the public and held at the school.
Huw May, Head of Kensington Wade, said, "Our Chinese New Year celebrations have captivated our children and all our community. We've enjoyed the colourful lion dance and also learnt calligraphy and how to make dumplings.
"Our school is in the unique position of being the only one in Western Europe to provide an immersive bilingual - Mandarin and English - education from nursery to prep school. This means we take the very best from British and Chinese cultures and combine this with academic excellence and outstanding pastoral care.
"Chinese New Year is very special to us because we put into practice so much of what we have learnt during the year and this culminates with a celebration of what is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture."
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