Now the youngsters from Loudoun Academy, in Galston, will celebrate Chinese New Year with the new arrivals.
The school adopted the two giant pandas, currently settling in at Edinburgh Zoo, in February – long before they made the 5000 mile journey to Scotland.
The pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, arrived from China last week, and the S2 Fast Track class which adopted them will celebrate Chinese New Year with them in January at the zoo.
The group adopted the rare mammals as part of a Modern Studies project.
A plaque on the front of the new £300,000 panda enclosure marks the adoption.
Julia Preston, support for learning teacher at the school, said: "We were looking at imaginative ways for the children to do outdoor education.
"At the same time, pupils were studying China in Modern Studies.
"I read about how animals can aid learning in children – so it all came together when I looked at the Edinburgh Zoo website and read about pandas."
With the help of the zoo's education department and the Scottish Chinese Education Network (SCEN), the pupils officially adopted the pandas on Chinese New Year.
Julia said: "I arranged for the zoo to phone me when I had the class in front of me, to break the news."
To mark the adoption the children learnt about China and got to use chopsticks, make Chinese lanterns, study Chinese calligraphy and taste fortune cookies.
Mrs Yang, the Chinese language teacher from Grange Academy's Confucius Hub, visited the school to teach the children some Mandarin.
Barry Hutchinson, Sifu of Four Seasons Wing Chun Gung Fu, a kung fu school, gave pupils kung fu lessons and demonstrated the famous Lion Dance.
The Fast Track group of nine pupils also visited Edinburgh Zoo in March and gave a talk to an audience of 250 people about endangered animals in China and Scotland.
And now, on January 23, they will go back to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Ms Preston said: "2012 will be the Year of the Dragon, which is the most important year in the Chinese calendar, so we're looking forward to a really fantastic day."
Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, Barnhill Primary in Broughty Ferry near Dundee, Dundee 82nd Inverleith Scouts, Seasiders from Cramond, and Greyfriars Sunday School in Edinburgh, have also adopted the pandas.
matty.sutton@ eveningtimes.co.uk
