A TOTAL of eighteen different nationalities are represented at a Lancashire school.

Children from Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Ukraine are all represented among Walshaw High School's 810 female pupils making it Lancashire's most multi-cultural school.

Headteacher Debbie Hill, pictured with the pupils, is aiming to celebrate the cultural differences and has launched a new school prospectus that stresses the harmony created at the Burnley school, which also has a large intake of pupils from the Nelson area. She said: "We are international and proud. There are other schools with as many different nationalities, but they tend to be in the big cities like London and Manchester.

"We have to stand up and say what we believe in. We do not see the different backgrounds here as a problem. We see them as a fantastic benefit."

And pupils at the school are getting an educational as well as a cultural benefit from the multi-ethnic mix with lessons geared to take advantage of the school's international flavour.

Some of the children at the school include: Haracic Azra (Bosnic), Shahn George (Australia), Saharish Yaqoob (Denmark), Olga Velichko (Ukraine),Tahira Fatimah (Hong Kong), Samantha Parker (England), Liyana Mansor (Brunei), Kelly Brown (Scotland), Shetara Begum (Bangladesh), Layla Izruna (Libya), Veronika Kovacova (Czech Republic), Aisha Kapadia (India), Adeela Azam (Singpore), Marie Carrasco (Philippines), Laura Champkin (Eire), Siphiwe Chungu (Zambia), Mahwish Ahmed (Pakistan) and Deyna Chard (Zimbabwe).