TWO delegations of visitors from east Asia visited a school as part of efforts to promote British education and innovation.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office organised the first visit earlier this month of ten journalists from countries including Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia to Walthamstow Academy.

And a further 23 Chinese teachers popped in to the same school last week as part of its ‘Sharing Best Practice’ programme.

The journalists came to the site, in Billet Road, as part of a government-organised trip to promote the UK, which also included visits to Oxford University and a variety of top businesses.

During the tour pupils showed off some of the school's high-tech facilities, including a TV studio where the academy's 'young reporters' team filmed a press conference with their new foreign friends.

Then last Thursday (November 15) the Chinese group came to the school to learn more about the UK's education system.

The visit included a tour of the site, a question and answer sessions with students and a lively game of table tennis between the Chinese PE teachers and sixth formers.