delighted to welcome swiss exchange students

In a brand new initiative for this year, our MFL department arranged a French-speaking exchange with Swiss school Gymnase de la Broye.

A number of our students and their families from Years 10, 11, and 13 have hosted our visiting guests, who arrived on Saturday, and started their trip to the North-West with a whole group walking tour of Manchester on Sunday, led by our very own Mr Elston.

On Monday, we were delighted to welcome the students to site to experience life at UGS.

Firstly, with their accompanying teachers, they met with our students, and with Mr Bridge and Mr Elston, in our Conference Room, as you will see in our lead picture and below.

Here, everyone got to practise and develop their spoken language skills by chatting and getting to know more about each other in both French and English.

Not only a great way to develop and progress language skills, but also a fantastic opportunity to learn more about different European cultures, life, and, of course, school experiences!

It was also a lot of fun and a great chance to make new friends!

Our guests were then treated to a tour of UGS and our facilities, before getting the opportunity to participate in lessons with their host students, including Physics with Mr Leech:

Maths with Mr Prastka:

Biology with Mrs Mohamed, learning all about the kidneys and dialysis: 

And a Chemistry practical with Miss Ghaffur:

This was a very hands on session on polymerisation:

And as you can see, the investigative process involved a whole bunch of slime!

This afternoon, the group headed to Liverpool, taking in its wealth of culture, not least the fabulous Beatles Museum. And there is much to look forward to tomorrow, with a visit to Salford Quays and the Imperial War Museum, and a farewell evening meal at Urmston's The Italian Job restaurant.

Next February, UGS MFL students and staff will take part in an exchange visit to Switzerland, an exciting opportunity to learn and to further develop connections made this week.

With huge thanks both to our wonderful guests from Gymnase de la Broye, we wish you a safe trip back; to our UGS host students and families; and to Mr Bridge and Mr Elston for arranging this fantastic opportunity for all.