With over 25,000 children and young people already signed up for FREE Festival events and activities, we are please to announce that there are still lots of opportunities for Early Years, Primary and Middle Schools in the North East to get involved.
Below is a summary of the free events, activities and resources available for Early Years and KS1-2 pupils as part of the Festival this year. Some in-person events in the programme are fully booked, but all those listed here have places available and many have unlimited participation (webinars, online and pre-recorded resources, competitions).
Please follow the links to any that your school is interested in and click on the registration links to take part.
For information, the full programme on a page is available to download here and the full KS1-2 programme here. For the latest updates, follow the Festival on social media here: X (twitter) | facebook | instagram.
Activities in February
- Primary/middle La Petite Crêperie Competition for North East Schools 8th Jan-14th Feb (winners event 7th March)
- Families Love Your Mother Language Day at Newcastle City Library 1-3pm on 24th February (half term)
Places available for in person languages and cultures events in March
- Teachers of Spanish Spanish Day for teachers with the Spanish Embassy 8th March at Newcastle University
- KS1-2 Primary school games and stories at Multilingual Library, Gateshead flexible bookings in March 2025
- KS2+ Yorùbá language and culture workshops 2-hours 12-4pm 4, 11, 18 & 25th March with Success4All These events are now fully booked (updated 11 Feb 2025)
- KS2-3 Language treasures at Great North Museum 10am-2pm 20th (Y3-7), 24th (Y6-9) or teacher led 1-31st March
- Families/schools Arabic language learning with team games 10.30-12.30 on 22nd March
- Y5-6 Welcome to Germany and the German speaking world 9.30-12 , 12.30-3 27th March at Durham University (No prior knowledge of German required)
- KS2+ Bangla Day (Sunderland) celebrate Bangladeshi culture and heritage 11-1.30, 2-4.30 on 25th March
- (Awaiting update on availability) Primary Bengali Day in Newcastle celebrating Bengali culture and heritage 10am-12pm 3rd March
- EYFS KS1-2 Welcome to China events 10-12 on 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20th March 2025 with Confucius Institute at Newcastle University Sessions are fully booked, but there is a waiting list and sessions are available after Easter, so do register.
Special online event (recording available if you register)
- KS2 Primary German online sessions with Goethe Institut 9.30-10.30am, 3rd & 7th March (No prior knowledge of German needed)
Creative Projects January to March (register for resources and teaching packs)
- KS2-5 Sing, play and sign the Festival Song: What a Wonderful World 6th Jan to 24th March 2025
- KS2-5 Mother Tongue Other Tongue – poetic writing project 8th January to 24th March 2025
- KS2-5 Weaving Friendship – multilingual creative project 8th January to 21st March 2025
- KS2 Language Calligrams Celebration and workshop activity 8th January to 28th March (no registration required and teaching resources available on the webpage)
Pre-recorded workshop resources available January to March or anytime
- KS2 Yorùbá pre-recorded workshops: Language, Culture, Expression Available February -31 March (Register)
- EYFS KS1 KS2 Puppet shows – have fun learning French! (3 shows, different ages) Available Jan-31 March (Register)
- EYFS KS 1-2 Lingotot pre-recorded activities for young learners (3-11 years) Available Feb-31st Mar (Register)
- KS1-2 Fun with Japanese interactive activities for children (5-11 years) Available Jan-31 March (Register)
- KS2 Multilingual digital stories made by and for children Available Jan-31 March (Register)
- KS1-2 Exploring and celebrating indigenous African languages (5-16 years) Jan-Mar (Register)
- KS2 ENACT Around the World Club package (NE schools) available anytime
- Primary/middle Around the world education packs for schools (7 packs available anytime)
UK competitions and celebrations
- JaLaChamp 2025 (Japanese) Open Nov 2024 to 4th Feb (Speech) and 4th March (Video)
- Celebrate Speaking! National festival of speaking languages 1st-28th February 2025 (All languages)
- KS2-5 French Pop Video Competition Register by 16th March and submit entries by 11th May 2025
This project is part-funded by the North East Combined Authority
