A cluster of Halton primary schools were the hosts for a delegation of head teachers from South Africa.

Astmoor, Lunt’s Heath, Moorfield, and St Bede’s Juniors received four guests from primary schools in Tembisa near Johannesburg as part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme.

The schools have been collaborating for the past year on developing the children’s awareness of the "Sustainable Development Goals" using a theme which drives the children’s critical thinking skills in the area of single use plastic pollution.

The South African educators’ week long programme gave them "access all areas" as school leaders sought to learn from each other.

The visitors were hosted by Halton Mayor Cllr Margaret Horabin at Runcorn Town Hall where she was especially interested to partake in a shared debate about the future of education.

Faith Tiernan, headteacher at St Bede’s Catholic Junior School, said : "It is both an honour and a privilege to be involved in the Connecting Classrooms project in partnership with both local schools and schools in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"Hosting our special visitors means that we are further able to learn from one and other while giving our pupils a diverse experience, learning with and from our South African partners.

"Our relationship is now one built on love, truth, joy, hope and goodness; working together to serve the common good.

"The aim of the project is to reduce plastic pollution, not only in the UK and South Africa but also worldwide.

"For that to occur we need teamwork, which was the strength and highlight of the week’s reciprocal visit: As a team, ordinary people can achieve extra-ordinary results."