St Marks Primary School in Kendal recently embraced Japanese culture for a week.

Head Teacher, Louise Hinton said she was inspired by the way Japanese primary school children take responsibility for their school.

It is common practice in Japan for all students to play a part in cleaning their learning environment, they take part in serving each other food and emptying the waste paper bins, as well as other small classroom chores.

A short YouTube video about Japan and student’s classroom contributions was sent to the parents of St Mark’s pupils.

The school then embarked on a week’s trial, implementing the practices students follow abroad.

At the end of the day, pupils wiped down their work stations, vacuumed the floor, washed up any dirty utensils and cleaned the tables as well as picking up classroom litter and tidying away their belongings.

Ms Hinton said the children learned vital life skills by cleaning their own classrooms.

“What I wasn’t expecting,” she said, “Was just how much fun it would be, and how the children would embrace this challenge.

“I have had some lovely comments from parents about how they wish that other schools  would embrace an initiative like this.”