20 February 2026
As the Year of the Horse arrives, the 2026 Junior School Chinese New Year Celebration began with beautiful red Chinese paper-cut decorations in the Bickersteth Building. Across all 20 Chinese classes, from ELC to Year 6, the boys participated in a range of cultural activities, including making Dragon Fish (鳌鱼 Áo Yú) lanterns, creating lucky red decorations with gold paint, and tasting freshly steamed scallion rolls (花卷 Huā Juǎn).
The classrooms were filled with laughter, joy, excitement, and the delightful aroma of warm rolls — it felt just like a bustling Chinese market before the New Year arrives. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival (春节 chūn jié), is one of the oldest continuously celebrated festivals in the world, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It began during the Shang Dynasty as a time to mark the end of winter, honour ancestors, and pray for a good harvest.
Over time, it spread with Chinese communities across the globe and is now celebrated worldwide. This year is the Year of the Horse (马 mǎ), recognised as one of the most energetic and free-spirited animals in the Chinese zodiac, second only to the Chinese Dragon (Loong) in strength and symbolism. 2026 is specifically the Year of the Fire Horse in the traditional 60-year Chinese calendar cycle. The 12 zodiac animals combine with the five elements — gold, wood, water, fire, and earth — to form this 60-year cycle.
The Fire Horse symbolises passion, strength, drive, and endless motivation. Chinese philosophy emphasises balance and sustainability. Fire represents powerful energy, while water provides balance and harmony. Our school colours, blue and white, symbolise water — one of the five elements — bringing balance to the powerful Fire Horse energy. Therefore, we carefully chose the white and blue Dragon Fish lantern to represent our School and to bring prosperity to our community in the Year of the Fire Horse.
In class, we also discussed how the spirit of the Dragon Fish represents perseverance, growth, and transformation.
On Friday, 13 February, our Junior School held the 2026 Chinese New Year Celebration Assembly at Memorial Hall. Our Lion Dance boys proudly performed “山河图 (Shān Hé Tú – Landscape of Mountains and Rivers),” a dynamic performance combining lion dance, Mongolian chopsticks dance, Wudang kung fu, and Tai Chi. The performance received enthusiastic applause from both students and staff. On Saturday, 21 February, the Lion Dance Team will perform in front of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, and the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, at the Chinatown Street Party — the largest Chinese New Year celebration in South Australia. We wish them every success.
Our Panda group performed their award-winning song from the Australian Voice Chinese Singing Competition, “Panda Huahua and Two Tigers.” We also invited a guest dancer, Lawson Le, who specialises in robot dance, to perform to the well-known northern Chinese folk song “Da Hua Jiao – Big Red Wedding Sedan Chair.” The music and energy filled Memorial Hall with joy, happiness and positivity. Additionally, a group of Chinese boys stepped outside their comfort zones to learn and perform a song in both Chinese and Mongolian titled “Malan Flower.”
Each year, the school year begins alongside our Chinese New Year celebrations. The Junior School spends three terms preparing for the following year’s celebration. The boys’ passion and dedication to learning the Chinese language and culture truly reflect our school vision: “To be an exceptional community of learning.” We wish everyone an energetic, powerful, and ambitious Year of the Horse.
Shelby Baker
Junior School Chinese Language Teacher
