A TOP honour and one of the most successful exchange trips ever are being celebrated at Tavistock College this month.

Crispin Chambers, the college's head of Japanese who scooped the prestigious teacher of the year at the education industry's 'Oscars' six months ago, has been presented with a special commendation following a keynote speech he made at the Japanese embassy earlier this month.

Mr Chambers was invited to speak at the Japan Conference for Schools, aimed at schools implementing Japanese into the curriculum, those involved in partnerships in Japan, and schools looking to enhance or develop an existing programme of Japan-related study.

Mr Chambers spoke about how Tavistock College initiatives and its existing relationship between the school and Edogawa ward in Tokyo had been developed.

He said: 'It was a huge honour for me. I actually spent 20 minutes with the ambassador and for him to give up that amount of time is pretty unheard of, and he listened to all my speech.

'He is really keen to promote the Japanese language throughout the UK.'

While at the embassy, Mr Chambers was presented with a commendation by the ambassador, marking the efforts he has made in promoting UK-Japan relations over 28 years, since he first went to work as an English teacher at Sumoto Senior High School on Awaji Island.

He said: 'After making the presentation at a formal ceremony, Ambassador Hayashi  paid tribute to my efforts to bring together the young people of Japan and the UK. The ambassador presented me with a beautiful hand-written scroll which represents one of the highest honours a foreign national can receive.'

This week, a reception with the mayor of Tavistock has been one of the highlights of an action-packed exchange visit by 18 Japanese students.

The students, from Kanto Daiichi Senior High School, in Edogawa ward, Tokyo, are all staying with host families from the Tavistock area, having arrived in this country last Friday. The exchange is the latest in a long succession of similar visits organised by Mr Chambers.

He said: 'It's great because this year, it involves students from literally every year group — it really is a whole school exchange now.

'I've been speaking to some of the parents and they are keen to host in the summer which is wonderful — without this kind of community support, I wouldn't be able to run this sort of exchange programme.'

The students spent last weekend with their host families enjoying a wide variety of activities and visits, from visits to the Eden Project and the Barbican, to enjoying Kilworthy Point to Point races.

Mr Chambers said: 'The whole point of the exchange is to share our lives and the way we lead our lives.

'For most of the Japanese students it's their first time abroad, let alone coming all the way to England — it's a huge deal for them.'

This week, the students have been taking lessons at the college with their host students, but also undertaking various trips including a visit to Exeter, horse riding, and enjoying the opportunity of meeting the mayor of Tavistock in the town hall.

The demand to become involved in the Japanese exchange programme at Tavistock College is now very high indeed — a further group of 20 students from Japan will be visiting this summer, although 350 applied to be considered.

Mr Chambers said: 'I would like to run a primary school programme — the Japanese primary school children are very keen to come over with their families, so hopefully next year, we may be able to get funding from the Japanese Government.'

Mr Chambers' previous visit to Japan was in November, just after he was awarded the coveted teaching 'Oscar'.

'That was a fantastic trip,' he said. 'The Japanese really laid out the red carpet for us. Their education officials place huge kudos on these sort of exchange visits.

'There are actually less than five schools in the UK that do this sort of thing. Some independent schools do trips, but this is completely different, with students living with families — Tavistock College is a real leader in this.'

College principal Helen Salmon said the school was delighted to welcome the Japanese students — an 'extra special visit' coming as it did in the wake of Mr Chambers being recognised for his inspirational work.

She said: 'We also would like to build on this work and develop it further. We would like to foster links with our trust primary schools and explore teacher training in Japanese.

'All of this is down to the outstanding work of Crispin Chambers.'