An Upper Sixth student at The Leys was awarded the prestigious Dresden Trust scholarship 2020, which took her on a four-week cultural and educational visit to this historic German city.
Immy Cheney commented on her visit: “Much of my visit was spent tracing the impacts of the war and evidence of reconciliation. I continue to be deeply moved by the spirit of the people to reclaim the ‘Florenz an der Elbe’ as efforts to rebuild the famous Baroque city go on to this day.”
The Dresden Trust is a British charity dedicated to fostering good relations with the city in Saxony. One of the greatest centres of European culture, Dresden was destroyed by Allied bombing in February 1945 but since then has been painstakingly rebuilt and restored as a vibrant city. The scholarship is designed to strengthen harmonious relations between the UK and Germany by encouraging contacts between their young people. It is open to pupils from schools participating in the British-German Association’s Youthbridge Scheme, a British-German project to promote the teaching of German in British schools. Nationally, the number of pupils studying for GCSE German has more than halved in the last decade but the German numbers at The Leys remain strong and buck national trends.
Helen Williams, Head of German, said: “Immy is a truly deserving winner of this prestigious award. She grasped every opportunity offered to her to experience life in a beautiful German city in a German grammar school and within a family context. She returned with outstanding proficiency in the German language and is an excellent role model for younger pupils studying German.”
Simon Leader, Head of French and Head of Modern Languages said: “Immy is a shining light in the Modern Languages department at The Leys. Her outward-looking approach is an example to us all and I was thrilled to hear about her experiences in Germany. This kind of opportunity is an excellent example of the approach we have adopted in the department; travelling abroad and experiencing the language and the culture first-hand is the perfect complement to what we do in the classroom. Although our trips programme has been compromised this year, we hope to get as many pupils out to Germany, France and Spain from next year.”