THE world has become a much smaller place for pupils at a Dereham school who are making friends and sharing cultures with students thousands of miles away in China through an innovative computer project.

THE world has become a much smaller place for pupils at a Dereham school who are making friends and sharing cultures with students thousands of miles away in China through an innovative computer project.

The plan is to create a 'digital quilt' where information from students at Neatherd High School and their partner school, Nan Yang Middle School in Shanghai, will be woven together in a virtual learning environment.

Seven students from Neatherd High School have each been paired up with two pupils in Shanghai.

They started swapping information online

last October with an initial project about their hometowns, and now they have started a new project comparing their school days.

Soon the youngsters from the two different countries will begin collaborating on writing shared stories together.

IT teacher Mike Quantrill said the director of the Institute of Education in Shanghai was especially interested in the project and hoped it would be expanded across the Chinese city. He added that he hoped the project could also be used as a model for other schools in Norfolk to follow.

Neatherd students involved in the project are Michelle Chow, 13, George Combes, 13, Lauren Lee, 13, Joanna Brown, 12, Rhiannon Orriss, 13, Luke Howard, and Sam Creighton, 12.