In a school serving one of the most deprived areas of Edinburgh, Mandarin is the only language on offer.
Learning Mandarin has tended to be an opportunity only available to a minority of Scottish pupils, often in private schools.
But in a school serving one of the most deprived areas of Edinburgh, Mandarin is currently the only language on offer.
In October, when Castlebrae Community High's only modern languages teacher left for maternity leave, it struggled to replace her – but then the school received some external investment to teach Mandarin.
This enables it to share a teacher with several other schools in the city. The subject is taught in the first and second year. Next year, some pupils hope to continue it in their third year, with the aim of achieving a national qualification in the language.
In October, 12 pupils will head to Beijing to experience Chinese language and culture for themselves.
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