Four-way exchange for Oundle

  • 13 years ago
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This November saw the visit to the UK of Oundle School’s partner schools in the Comenius project, which is designed to share experience and knowledge of different countries between pupils and teachers.

The visiting groups comprised three German teachers who brought two pupils from Gemeinschaftsschule (a comprehensive school in Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein in Germany), three Czech teachers accompanied by five pupils from Z S Bolatice School (for pupils aged 6–15 in Bolatice), and four Spanish teachers from Los Llanos (a primary school from Torrex-Costa, Málaga).

The visit began with a meal on the Sunday evening followed by a tour of the School on the Monday morning with the visiting pupils ‘shadowing’ their Oundle hosts in their respective lessons in the afternoon.

Tuesday was dedicated to the theme of the project, 'Democracy', which started with an excellent talk by Head of Politics, John Gillings, entitled ‘What is Democracy?’. This was followed by a discussion about pupil-influence in decision-making policies in all four countries. The morning concluded with a talk by former Oundle history teacher, Richard Mather.

The group was taken to Peterborough in the afternoon to visit the Cathedral, do some shopping, and taste the delights of English fish and chips. The day ended with a visit to the Stahl Theatre where the visitors saw the C12 Dance Double Bill.

Wednesday saw the departure of the German group. After the ‘auf wiedersehen’, the remaining delegates went to Cambridge, with the visit to King’s College Chapel and its gardens proving to be the highlight. The groups then attended a meeting of the Junior Debating Society and the evening ended with a meal in the Onka restaurant, where some of the visitors experienced the delights of a curry for the first time.

Thursday began with a walk around Barnwell Country Park followed by Lunchtime Concert in St Peter’s Church. Despite the weather, the afternoon was devoted to sports, where both teachers and pupils experienced sporting life at Oundle School.

Both the Czechs and the Spaniards departed Friday morning and all our visitors expressed their thanks for the hospitality the School was able to offer.

Oundle School have been awarded €22,000 to cover travel and other costs for the two years that the project will run.

Oundle pupil Lucy Wakeford commented: 'This was a very productive week and everyone thoroughly enjoyed participating in the exchange. Our visitors enjoyed experiencing a boarding school lifestyle and being given an insight into British culture and typical day to day events that are unique to our country.'

The Headmaster Charles Bush added: 'Such cultural exchanges are invaluable in assisting mutual understanding and breaking down barriers. It is an excellent feature of our languages provision. I am most grateful to the staff for adding to the diversity of our cultural lives by arranging this visit to Oundle of people from many different nationalities.'

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