Pupils ready to jet off on overseas exchange
[caption id="attachment_36632" align="alignright" width="620"] EXCITING TIME: Ella Seaton (Australia); Yvette Kingsford (New Zealand); Olivia Duncan (Australia); Lilli Cavill (Australia); Mrs Shelley Frayne (DSG headmistress), Mrs Shirley Gardyne (exchange programme coordinator); Simran Thakur (India) ; Neeve McKenzie (New Zealand); Udita Singh (India); Annie Clarnette (Australia); Anna Robertson (New Zealand) will all be jetting off on an exchange programme overseas[/caption]
TWO Eastern Cape schools are gearing up to send their pupils to overseas schools as part of an exchange programme aimed at widening pupils' scope to different educational styles and cultures.
Sixteen Grade 7 pupils from Nelson Mandela Bay's St George's Prep School jet off to tomorrow to spend two weeks at Germany's Gesamentschule Holeweide, London's Newland House, St Catherine's, Kingshott in Hitchin, north of London, and St Aubyn's in Woodford Green.
Grahamstown's Diocesan Girls School (DSG) on the other hand, will be seeing off 10 pupils, who will spend eight weeks overseas, in August.
The school is currently hosting nine pupils from their exchange partners Wilderness School in Adelaide, Australia and New Zealand's St Peter's School and Waihi Beach School until next month.
Pupils from India's Pinegrove School, who were hosted by DSG pupils since May 20, returned home yesterday.
The programmes afford pupils a chance to experience schooling in a different country, giving them an opportunity to travel and learn the country's culture, as well as become ambassadors for South Africa.
St George's Prep pupils will deliver a presentation about their country during assembly at the school they will be visiting.
While parents rallied to accumulate the funds for their children's overseas trip, the pupils scrambled to secure their places by submitting motivating letters as to why they were the best choice to represent their respective schools overseas. They will be hosted by their exchange partners' families, with whom some of the St George's Prep pupils and parents have already become acquainted with via Skype and e-mail.
"Student exchange is a wonderful experience for these young women, both educationally and culturally, and is a programme which we hope will grow from strength to strength.
"This is a challenging experience but I do believe that they're ready," DSG exchange programme coordinator Shirley Gardyne said.
Head of marketing at St George's Prep School Dawn Berry said the programme had grown in popularity.
"The exchange programme has been running for a number of years now and is a highlight of our Grade 7 year," she said. - Chanice Koopman
