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A dragon has descended on a Murray Bridge primary school – thankfully not to burn it down or carry the teachers away.

Instead it paraded through the grounds on Friday morning to celebrate the Chinese new year.

Year 3 students from Mrs McCue’s class held up the long creature while those from Mrs Thiele’s class held lanterns and Miss Maxwell’s year 7s banged drums and cymbals.

Eva Hepher-Edwards had the starring role: enticing the dragon on by walking along in front of it with a pearl of wisdom, which closely resembled a beach ball.

Second-language English teacher Beverly Sharrad said the occasion gave students an opportunity to learn about Chinese culture.

The school had celebrated the lunar new year for only a few years, but planned to do it again whenever it fell during the school term.

No public events were planned in Murray Bridge this year for the occasion, which is traditionally celebrated not only by Chinese families, but by many of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese origin as well.

Many local families are expected to share meals together or hold family gatherings over the weekend.

More than 300 Murray Bridge residents were born in China or have a parent who was, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and almost 500 speak mostly Mandarin at home.

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