Festival of Languages 2025 inspires a generation of children and young people!

We are grateful to all the schools, groups and children and young people who took part so enthusiastically, our many partners who provided such engaging, free activities and to the North East Combined Authority for providing funding support for co-ordination, communications and four commissioned projects.

This festival is unique in the UK and we want to build on its success to provide more opportunities for children and young people across the North East.

Supporting Schools of Sanctuary and International School Award

We encourage schools participating to use Festival involvement to support multilingualism, intercultural awareness and internationalism as part of their Schools of Sanctuary work – as well as to use activities to progress through the levels of the International School Award (ISA). This year 276 schools were new to the Festival and eligible to automatically receive the ISA Foundation Certificate through our arrangement with British Council.

48,186 young people, mainly in Key Stage 3, took part in four languages and careers webinars

The webinar speakers shared their experiences and inspired young people about how languages can open up a world of opportunities – from travel, friendships, to interpersonal skills and intercultural awareness, broadening horizons and widening future education and career choices.

From valuing the super-power of having home languages to the importance of taking qualifications to at least GCSE level, the message was clear to young people watching – languages open doors!

18,088 children and young people in NE schools, aged 7-18, engaged in four creative, multilingual projects

These projects enabled children and young people to take part in creative activities celebrating all the languages they speak at home, learn in school or are interested in. They expressed themselves through writing, art and singing in many languages, as well as sharing their different cultures and heritage with the school community, building understanding and awareness – as well as having lots of fun!

There will be a compilation video of the Festival song and 2 e-books of children’s writing available soon and the Friendship Trees exhibition with children’s weavings is open now at Newcastle Civic Centre.

14,698 children aged 3-15 across the North East took part in pre-recorded language and culture activities

Providing flexibility for schools, groups and community schools, these activities were available to run anytime between January and March. Six activities were on offer including stories and songs, puppet shows, films made by children, as well as quizzes and games – in 15 different languages.

Children from 3 years and up were able to enjoy engaging and interactive activities exploring different languages and cultures and sparking their interest to learn more.

2,492 children and young people took part in 22 in-person events around world languages and cultures and language learning

In-person events in the Festival were as popular as ever this year and there were a wide variety on offer. They can have the biggest impact on those taking part, as they are immersive, engaging and cultural experiences outside school premises, which leave a big impression.

We had a wide range of world languages and cultures events this year, delivered by community organisations, cultural institutions and people from a wide range of backgrounds. They opened young people’s minds to their cultures and languages and inspired them. These ranged from Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Bengali themed events, to Spanish and German and multilingual offerings.

There were also a number of events delivered on university campuses, which had the added advantage of introducing children and young people to what is usually their first university experience. These ranged from cultural workshops, to language and careers events and events aimed at A level language students.

55 teachers took part in a Spanish Day for Teachers at Newcastle University organised with the Spanish Embassy

A special event to support teachers of Spanish at all levels to explore ways to enhance the teaching and learning of the language in schools and the wide range of resources and additional training available to them.

3,479 children from North East primary and middle schools took part in our schools’ crêpe competition

La Petite Crêperie ran a competition for North East schools to design their own unique crêpe and describe it in French. It sparked the imagination of children across the region and schools really enjoyed taking part. It combined learning French with a practical application – food – a great combination!

Two children’s winning designs were chosen and groups of 30 children attended a special winners’ crêpe workshop with La Petite Crêperie at Newcastle University’s ilab and digital kitchen.

4,604 14-18 year olds joined the Let Afghan Girls Learn webinar

With supporting education resources, girls from Afghanistan spoke to young people in the UK about their fight for the right to education and their hopes and aspirations, with a call to action to young people here.

2,210 children aged 7-11 enjoyed Primary German webinars

The Goethe Institut delivered two fun webinars with puppets introducing German to younger children and providing classroom resources to all schools who participated.

Encouraging participation in language competitions and celebrations

We promote the range of national and international celebrations and competitions taking place during the Festival period from January to March.

The profile of the Festival enables us to encourage engagement of schools’ and children and young people, as positive ways of engaging with languages and sharing their own language and creative skills.

Promoting free resources to support language learning and teaching and cultural exploration

We also share a range of resources available free anytime to UK schools to support language learning and teaching from North East, national and international organisations.

This year we also provided themed webpages on different languages, with Festival language themed activities and links to resources available from national cultural institutions for: Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese.

‘How languages changed my life’ stories

We’ve been collecting inspiring stories from people from all walks of life who have a connection to the North East. They tell of how learning and speaking other languages shaped their education and career paths and enriched their lives. Each story highlights the personal, social and professional rewards of embracing their home languages and new languages.

These experiences reveal how language learning opens doors, broadens horizons and shifts perspectives. We hope their journeys inspire children and young people to see the endless possibilities that come with speaking and learning languages! Click here to view the stories gallery.