Two years of fundraising finally came to a head for a group of Fulston Manor pupils when they went on their long-awaited trip to China.

The seven teenagers, Keziah Smith-Hassan, Kieran Snelling, Rhys Cozens, Chloe Shaw, Abigail Kemp, Alex Page and Harry Taylor, had to raise £4,145 each to go on the month-long World Challenge expedition.

They were accompanied by assistant head teacher Susie Burden, head of Hales house Gemma Davies and their leader Mark Dancey, from World Challenge.

First port of call was Beijing where they visited Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Great Wall. In some places the group found they were as much an attraction to the local visitors as the scenery around them so had to get used to being photographed.

Next stop was the metropolitan city of Xian, home to the Bell Tower and the Terracotta Army, both of which they got to see.

But it wasn’t all play. The team trekked up the Hua Shan mountain which has a number of temples and other religious structures on its slopes and peaks, so they could carry out a custom of attaching a prayer lock on both sides of the Gold Lock Pass.

Not far outside of Xian the team embarked on their project phase – spending a week at an orphanage where they taught the children English.

There was some successes too with one of the orphans learning to count to 20 and another able to recite the alphabet.

They then travelled to Chengdu, where they visited the panda sanctuary and saw a Sichaun Opera which features various acts from shadow hands to mask changing, before travelling to Kangding where they began a five-day trek.

Chloe said: “Going to China was the best experience of my life. If anyone is considering going on a World Challenge expedition, just do it. It will be the best thing you ever do.”

Miss Burden said: “We cannot express enough the hustle and bustle of China nor how much we all learned.

“It is an amazing and life-changing experience for all who participate.”