With team members from across the globe, from Canada to South Africa and all points in between, there was no shortage of colourful costumes to mark a week celebrating languages.

As European Day of Languages fell on Sunday (September 26) it was the perfect opportunity to encourage staff to celebrate either their home country or a favourite country by wearing something special on Monday.

Here at Thomas Clarkson Academy we are proud of the range of cultures and languages our students and staff bring. We planned activities throughout the week to expand the theme and encourage the wider school community to be part of the celebration.

Students were asked to take part in a language challenge throughout the week which also included a quiz to test their knowledge of some of the 225 languages, or more,  spoken in Europe alone.

If only native-speakers are counted, Russian is the most spoken language in Europe with English coming out top if you also include second-language speakers. 

The European Day of Languages started in 2001 when millions of residents across 45 countries took part in a variety of activities to promote learning and preservation of cultural diversity.