A languages teacher from Melbourn Village College has won a prestigious award for his work in introducing Mandarin into the curriculum. 

Frank Fan was awarded the UCL IOE Confucius Institute Excellence Award in a ceremony on Saturday last week.

Mr Fan has been recognised by the University College London Institute of Education for his work in introducing Mandarin, initially to the curriculum at Melbourn, and more recently across The Cam Academy Trust.

The institute supports the teaching and learning of Mandarin and the mainstreaming of Chinese teaching across schools in England.

Mr Fan was Melbourn’s initial appointment when they became the first school in Cambridgeshire to introduce the language in the curriculum from Year 7 six years ago.

He is now head of languages at the college, where there are a total of three Mandarin teachers, and is promoting the teaching of Mandarin both across the trust.

He said: “I am extremely happy to receive the ‘Excellence Awards’. It is an absolute honour that I will cherish for the rest of my career.

“The award caught me by surprise, but I will live up to the new standards drawn up for me. Because of the hard work of MVC students in the last six years with the excellent GCSE exam results, and the contribution from other Mandarin teachers, plus the support from the members of staff in the school, I had the chance to win the award. Therefore, I thank all of them for my unanticipated award.”

Last summer’s Mandarin GCSE results saw 55 per cent of candidates from MVC gain a Level 7 or above with eight pupils achieving Level 9.

As well as learning Mandarin alongside Spanish in language lessons, Melbourn students can join the Mandarin Excellence Program, which allows for accelerated learning with additional after-school classes and activities including virtual trips to China and real visits to Chinatown in London.