French Exchange 2011

Last week a group of 21 French Exchange visitors (8 girls, 11 boys and two staff) from our partner school in Chantonnay, Vendée, Western France, arrived as part of an annual cultural and study visit to sample life in an English school and in English families. This was the seventh visit from the school in as many years and one of the largest groups so far to take up the daunting, but valuable challenge of an exchange visit.

During their visit, pupils stayed with their exchange partner and family, experiencing life in an English family and taking part in a wide range of activities. The French pupils and staff were keen to spend as much time in school as possible, experiencing a wide variety of lessons that had been specially put together by the Cherry Willingham staff, giving them an authentic flavour of our curriculum. Amongst the highlights were a food lesson where the French partners cooked pizza in one hour to share over lunch with their partners, a technology lesson where pupils made enamel keyrings, and many other lessons from across the whole curriculum spectrum. There was even some time set aside for a little bit of Shakespearean drama, problem-solving activities and team building tasks! For two of the group, their experience was further enriched by having the opportunity to take part in a live radio broadcast at SIREN FM. Mr Brewer, French exchange co-ordinator at the school commented, “this has to be one of the most successful exchange visits ever – what a fantastic group of English & French students to work with!”

The return leg of the Exchange is scheduled for the middle of June, when the English pupils will be hoping to sample the build up to a French summer!