This week we are happy to welcome our newest Chinese group to a secondary school in the South East of England! The students arrived on Friday and will stay with us until 15th February, giving them plenty of time to see popular tourist attractions around the country and make new friends at their English school.
On their first day in the UK our pupils from China had a visit to the beautiful city of Cambridge. They were able to have a walking tour of the city, visit King’s College and Trinity College as well as have a go at the traditional Cambridge activity of Punting. They had a full day of activities and fun before heading off to their school in the beautiful English countryside. Once back at school they were able to have dinner and get to know some of the pupils who will be their classmates for the next week as well as settle into the boarding house accommodation on site at the school.
The boarding house experience is an asset as it gives a true taste of life at their English school and more time to spend with their English classmates who are also boarding; this means more time to practise their English, participate in afterschool activities and have fun!
On their first night at the school our Chinese pupils were formally welcomed by the headteacher and met their buddies for the next week and were able to eat dinner in the school dining hall. Our Buddy Scheme ensures that all of our students from China get paired up with a student in their year group in England. This helps the Chinese students integrate into their new school environment, makes it easier to make friends and practise their English and gets the English pupils more involved by being able to show their buddy around and share knowledge of their school. Above we have photos of some of our students being paired up with their buddies, a scheme that has proven in past exchanges to form lasting friendships!
On Saturday morning the students ate breakfast in the dining hall before heading off on their next trip. This time to London to visit The Natural History Museum. After a full day of discovering the secrets held inside the museum’s walls the students headed back to school for dinner with their buddies.
Sunday saw our pupils from China spending their first full day at school doing activities organised by the prefects of the boarding houses before starting classes with their buddies on Monday morning. The school our pupils are visiting offer a huge array of enrichment and after school activities for students to participate in including street dance, cooking, pilates, softball and more so during their time there they will not be short of things to do once classes are over. Monday – Thursday sees our Chinese pupils attending classes with their buddies and enjoying the rich programme of after school activities and on Friday they will be saying goodbye to their school, and their buddies, to go off and enjoy their last few days in England by visiting landmark cities including Oxford and London.
Only a few days into their time in England, friendships have already formed between buddies and classmates at school and the classes and activities are being enjoyed thoroughly.