PUPILS as young as six are learning what is widely predicted to be the 'language of the future'.

Tyndale Community School and Church Cowley St James Primary School have partnered to provide pupils with lessons in Mandarin – the official language of China, an economic powerhouse with a population of almost 1.4 billion people.

The Cowley schools secured a pioneering grant from the British Council and HSBC, offered for the first time this year to just 10 schools and school partnerships nationwide.

Tyndale's humanities coordinator, Abigail Stocker, said: "Mandarin is the biggest language spoken at the moment. It's a great, important learning opportunity.

"Many private schools are offering it and we don't want there to be inequality of experience.

"Students are loving it and are doing so well, it's really impressive.

"Those who already speak another language are using their strengths, which is fantastic."

The school in William Morris Close is offering classes to Year 2 through to Year 4, while Church Cowley is offering them to Year 3 through to Year 6.

Cash from the grant funded the cost of hosting a native Mandarin speaker from September this year until June next year, covering the teacher's wages and certain living costs.

Steve Dew, headteacher of Church Cowley in Bartholomew Road, said it was a beneficial scheme that he hoped would continue.

He said: "The kids are absolutely loving it. It's an opportunity to learn about another culture alongside the language classes.

"They are starting to learn what the different characters mean, and there is quite a lot of artistry in the way it's written, so it's creative development too."

He said pupils took Chinese classes for half an hour each week.

The school has already been teaching Spanish for three years.

Mr Dew added: "Our ethos is to become a state-private school – not in that we are selecting children, and certainly not charging – but to offer opportunities for free, to bridge the gap in attainment and enjoyment.

"We don't want them to miss out compared to their counterparts who have gone to private school.

"If we teach them about language and culture early, it broadens their experience.

"It's not good enough to say 'wherever we go, they'll speak English'.

"It's our responsibility to make sure they can converse with people."

He said children at the school could speak 47 different languages between them, but only three pupils spoke Mandarin.

In 2013 then-Prime Minister and former Witney MP David Cameron urged schools to teach youngsters Mandarin, stating they should be 'learning the languages to seal tomorrow's business deals'.

Two years later, the Government announced a £10m investment to facilitate children learning Chinese languages at school.