Over 25,000 children and young people across the North East are already signed up through schools and groups for this year’s Festival, which went live on 8th January. All events, activities and resources are FREE for schools and groups and there is lots of time to get involved up to the end of March.
Welcome to the 2025 Festival programme!
Inspire children and young people and empower them to discover a world of language, culture and creativity! Register now for free activities between January and March and create your own Festival programme.
- North East schools, community schools and groups across Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland and Durham are invited to get involved in any of the age appropriate activities.
- UK schools can join in with selected events and access some resources (click here for details).
- Schools internationally can get involved with the Weaving Friendship project or with other activities through their North East partner schools.
Festival pick and mix
Create your own Festival programme to maximise the opportunities for children and young people, your school and community.
Download the Festival programme, scroll down to see all activities, or explore the programme based on age range/key stage or language.
Festival activities by age range/key stages (click on the images)
Festival activities by language
The Festival has opportunities to engage with all languages. We have selected some of the most popular languages to show how you can put your own Festival programme together around a specific language. These highlight Festival activities, as well as resources available from national and international partners. See the language-related activities at these links: Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese.
International School Award and Schools of Sanctuary
Use Festival activities to support multilingualism, intercultural awareness and internationalism in your school and progress with the International School Award and Schools of Sanctuary
Click here or on the image to download the 2025 Festival programme summary
International Newcastle hosts the Festival, which has been made possible by the contributions of events and activities from 45 local, regional, national and international partners and with funding support from North East Combined Authority.
For further information on the 2025 Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages and to register for activities from January explore the website and What’s On page and follow the Festival via Instagram, Facebook and X.
This project has been part-funded by North East Combined Authority
