Year 8 French Exchange

A few days before the summer Half Term, forty of our Year 8 pupils travelled to Tréguier in Brittany, to complete the return leg of the French Exchange. We had already received the French students when they came over in March, so the group already had a good idea of who would be there to meet us on the other side.

It felt slightly disrespectful towards Her Majesty - leaving the country just as the festivities for her Diamond Jubilee were about to start - but given the awful weather here and the glorious weather we had in France, we didn't feel too bad about missing the fun...

As in previous years, the pupils were housed in pairs in French families, coping as best they could in a friendly but ultimately rather different environment. But fears about food, local customs and language proved unfounded, as they adapted quickly to French family life.

We kept to the established routine of daytime trips followed by evenings spent en famille. Visits included a local manor house, a sealife centre, a river trip, a planetarium and telecommunications museum, and - a favourite with many - an afternoon spent high in the trees doing zip-wiring.

The pupils were a credit to the school, enduring the long coach trips patiently during the day and adapting politely to the different family routines when they arrived "home". Comments made about them by French parents, coach drivers and ferry port staff were consistently positive, and this made the job of those accompanying them (Mr Wager, Mrs Murray, Mrs Ross, and Mr & Mrs Greenow) all the more pleasant.

Overall, this was a very successful trip and will have not only improved our pupils' French skills a little, but also given them a taste of French life which will hopefully encourage them to make the trip over there again in the future.

Report by Mr Wager