CHINESE New Year will be marked in schools across County Durham with a series of online events next month.

Durham County Council has announced a programme of virtual activities for the lunar New Year and the Year of the Ox, which is celebrated from Monday February 8 to Friday February 12.

The council’s International Relations Team is working with partners at Durham University, Durham Chinese School and GemArts to create online content for schools and pupils of all ages.

Some of this will be in the form of short videos which will be available to schools at the end of January.

The videos are; the story of the Ox and the Chinese Zodiac; Life in China today – a short film made by the Durham University Chinese Scholars’ and Students’ Association; and Make a Chinese dragon at home, a step-by-step guide to building a dragon using simple materials, delivered by GemArts artist Pui Lee.

Durham Chinese School will offer a live craft session to demonstrate calligraphy and simple paper cutting for Key Stage 1 pupils.

There will also be Chinese language taster sessions for pupils at primary and secondary level by students at the university’s school of modern languages and culture.

The team will also be running three live sessions on Zoom which schools will need to book.

The sessions include a question and answer segment with an Asian student from Durham University, 25-minute taster sessions in Chinese, and a craft session by Durham Chinese School.

Those wishing to join should email michele.thorns@durham.gov.uk