TRIPS!
We run 2 trips in the German Department. One trip is for Years 7 & 8 to Zell am See in Austria and the other is our long running German exchange with HRS Königslutter. To find out more about them, read on!
Keswick School on tour BLOG -->
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Exchange 2016 (Keswick) - 50 years!
Such a great week; great weather on the whole (Must be a first!) and fantastic students! See the video below for a selection of photos and videos from the week.
Austria 2016
What a fantastic week we had! Below is a slideshow of all of the photos from the trip. If you want to read a day by day account, click on the red button above for the 'Keswick School on tour' blog!
Exchange 2015 - to Germany
Headcount through the Berlin Wall! You'll have to look at it sideways - I couldn't get it the right way up! |
49th Exchange with Haupt- und Realschule Königslutter 2015
I am writing this on our coach journey back home from Königslutter, somewhere between exhaustion and elation! Exhaustion because we have been active from the moment we arrived to the minute we boarded the coach for our homeward journey and elation because everything went so well and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Whilst I am writing this, the 20 students we accompanied are laughing, joking, listening to music, texting and talking about their experiences during the week. An hour ago it was a completely different picture; there were tears, sobbing, hugging and wailing as we prised the English students from their German partners and families. In fact, just as we thought everyone was on board, somebody managed to escape to say one last goodbye!
On the way to Königslutter, the coach was full of excitement, with an equal measure of trepidation as some of the group had never met their partners, whilst the others had hosted theirs last year.The same person who couldn’t bear to leave her partner at the end of her stay had told me on the way there how nervous she was. How things can change in one week!
We didn’t have the best of starts to our visit. Despite a brilliant journey to Hull and a calm and pleasant crossing to Rotterdam, we were thwarted, just a couple of hours away from our destination by roadworks and traffic jams, which delayed our arrival by one and a half hours. The tension and excitement grew with the frustration, as our host families waited patiently for us to arrive. After a drink and a few words from the host school, everyone was officially paired up and nervously retired to their German homes for the evening. Two of our party needed rehoming at the start of the week, but they were soon sorted out after a quick succession of phone calls between the host teachers and several parents. We very quickly had happier students who were in a much better position to enjoy their week.
The following day (Wednesday) everybody took part in ice-breaker activities and activities designed to get to know each other better. We started with a ‘Find someone who…’ task, followed by partner interviews, revealing how many similarities our students had with their German counterparts. This was displayed in the entrance hall for everyone to see. After this we had a tour of Königslutter to find out about the town, which was to be our home for the week. Then followed an active afternoon of aerobics, which for Mrs Pratt and myself was very entertaining!
During the rest of the week we visited Berlin, Braunschweig and Autostadt in Wolfsburg (a huge complex, home to VW and showcasing beautiful cars such as Porsche and Bugatti). In Berlin, it was great to be able to see in real life, the buildings and sights that we learn about at school in Year 9 and to learn a little more about their history. We also took part in the school fair, where we could try the tasty food donated by the students’ families, visit the stalls and partake in the activities prepared and run by the students and staff of the HRS Königslutter.
At the weekend, students took part in family activities and spent time with each other within their families or in small groups. The students from Keswick took advantage of this wonderful opportunity to immerse themselves into life in their host families and tried really hard to speak German. This was noted by the host parents, who took great pleasure at the leaving party in telling us the ‘true story’ of the week, which was, in fact, a story of fantastic behaviour, friendliness, confidence, politeness and real attempts to communicate as much as possible in German. As you can imagine, this filled Mrs Pratt and myself up to the top with pride! Our tour guide in Autostadt also approached me and commented on the group’s excellent behaviour around their beautiful cars!
So I have now come full circle to the start of my ‘review’, to the morning of our departure. At least five students from our group said they wanted to stay longer, which speaks volumes. Everybody agreed that they got something out of the trip, be that fun, listening and speaking practice, culture or gifts, but when all this has faded away and when the chocolate has been eaten, the one thing that stays is the friendships they made; hopefully, friendships for life!
So successful is our exchange with HRS Königslutter, that next year’s return trip will be its 50th anniversary! We would really like to celebrate this amazing achievement and would of course like people in Year 9 and 10 to consider hosting an exchange student next September. However, we also need to look at raising some funds to help us pay for events and expenses during the week. If you have any ideas for fundraising, or if you have your own business or knows someone who does and are in a position to sponsor the event, please do get in touch with me. All fundraising ideas and sponsorship ideas will be very welcome.
Finally, parents and participants, we would also really welcome your feedback about this year’s trip. If you have any comments you would like to make, please let me know.
Have a look on the 'Keswick Schule auf Tournee' Blog (Red button at the top of the page) to see Matthew Prescott's blog about the trip. There are also some photographs below.
It was an absolute pleasure being part of this exchange and I am really looking forward to what next year’s exciting 50th anniversary will bring!
Rebecca Wylie
Head of German
Keswick School
I am writing this on our coach journey back home from Königslutter, somewhere between exhaustion and elation! Exhaustion because we have been active from the moment we arrived to the minute we boarded the coach for our homeward journey and elation because everything went so well and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Whilst I am writing this, the 20 students we accompanied are laughing, joking, listening to music, texting and talking about their experiences during the week. An hour ago it was a completely different picture; there were tears, sobbing, hugging and wailing as we prised the English students from their German partners and families. In fact, just as we thought everyone was on board, somebody managed to escape to say one last goodbye!
On the way to Königslutter, the coach was full of excitement, with an equal measure of trepidation as some of the group had never met their partners, whilst the others had hosted theirs last year.The same person who couldn’t bear to leave her partner at the end of her stay had told me on the way there how nervous she was. How things can change in one week!
We didn’t have the best of starts to our visit. Despite a brilliant journey to Hull and a calm and pleasant crossing to Rotterdam, we were thwarted, just a couple of hours away from our destination by roadworks and traffic jams, which delayed our arrival by one and a half hours. The tension and excitement grew with the frustration, as our host families waited patiently for us to arrive. After a drink and a few words from the host school, everyone was officially paired up and nervously retired to their German homes for the evening. Two of our party needed rehoming at the start of the week, but they were soon sorted out after a quick succession of phone calls between the host teachers and several parents. We very quickly had happier students who were in a much better position to enjoy their week.
The following day (Wednesday) everybody took part in ice-breaker activities and activities designed to get to know each other better. We started with a ‘Find someone who…’ task, followed by partner interviews, revealing how many similarities our students had with their German counterparts. This was displayed in the entrance hall for everyone to see. After this we had a tour of Königslutter to find out about the town, which was to be our home for the week. Then followed an active afternoon of aerobics, which for Mrs Pratt and myself was very entertaining!
During the rest of the week we visited Berlin, Braunschweig and Autostadt in Wolfsburg (a huge complex, home to VW and showcasing beautiful cars such as Porsche and Bugatti). In Berlin, it was great to be able to see in real life, the buildings and sights that we learn about at school in Year 9 and to learn a little more about their history. We also took part in the school fair, where we could try the tasty food donated by the students’ families, visit the stalls and partake in the activities prepared and run by the students and staff of the HRS Königslutter.
At the weekend, students took part in family activities and spent time with each other within their families or in small groups. The students from Keswick took advantage of this wonderful opportunity to immerse themselves into life in their host families and tried really hard to speak German. This was noted by the host parents, who took great pleasure at the leaving party in telling us the ‘true story’ of the week, which was, in fact, a story of fantastic behaviour, friendliness, confidence, politeness and real attempts to communicate as much as possible in German. As you can imagine, this filled Mrs Pratt and myself up to the top with pride! Our tour guide in Autostadt also approached me and commented on the group’s excellent behaviour around their beautiful cars!
So I have now come full circle to the start of my ‘review’, to the morning of our departure. At least five students from our group said they wanted to stay longer, which speaks volumes. Everybody agreed that they got something out of the trip, be that fun, listening and speaking practice, culture or gifts, but when all this has faded away and when the chocolate has been eaten, the one thing that stays is the friendships they made; hopefully, friendships for life!
So successful is our exchange with HRS Königslutter, that next year’s return trip will be its 50th anniversary! We would really like to celebrate this amazing achievement and would of course like people in Year 9 and 10 to consider hosting an exchange student next September. However, we also need to look at raising some funds to help us pay for events and expenses during the week. If you have any ideas for fundraising, or if you have your own business or knows someone who does and are in a position to sponsor the event, please do get in touch with me. All fundraising ideas and sponsorship ideas will be very welcome.
Finally, parents and participants, we would also really welcome your feedback about this year’s trip. If you have any comments you would like to make, please let me know.
Have a look on the 'Keswick Schule auf Tournee' Blog (Red button at the top of the page) to see Matthew Prescott's blog about the trip. There are also some photographs below.
It was an absolute pleasure being part of this exchange and I am really looking forward to what next year’s exciting 50th anniversary will bring!
Rebecca Wylie
Head of German
Keswick School