VISUALLY-impaired youngsters have been getting a taste of life on the other side of the world.

Students at Henshaws College, Harrogate, have been learning about the ancient customs of the Maori people of New Zealand.

Josephine Puha, a Maori, visited the college as part of International Education Week to teach the visually impaired students how to make a woven mobile.

The completed product is now hanging proudly in their common room.

Weaving is a strong Maori tradition.

Instead of the usual flax, the students used brightly coloured card to make the mobile, which in New Zealand is one of the first things that young Maoris are taught to make.

Henshaws student volunteer co-ordinator Asha Munn, who also hails from New Zealand, said: "We encourage the students to learn about other cultures in different parts of the world.

"They had so much fun creating the mobile, and it will certainly be a bright addition to the new common room."

Henshaws College is one of the country's leading providers of life skills training for visually impaired young people with additional disabilities.