In June, Northgate hosted a Spanish visitor, Milagros Liberal from our partner school in Zaragoza. Milagros was here for two weeks, funded by the Spanish Education Ministry, to look at teaching and learning in other European countries, so you may have seen her in your lessons or spoken to her about your learning.
Our link with her school, CES Pilar Lorengar, goes back to 1995 when Mr Heffernan set up our Spanish exchange. Year 10 and Year 12 pupils have had the opportunity to improve their Spanish by spending a week with a Spanish family. They attend lessons in school and go on trips to get to know the city and the surrounding area, including trips to the Pyrenees mountain range and to Barcelona for the day.
It is great to have a close link with a school in Spain going back so many years. The oldest pupils to have taken part will now be almost in their forties! Often pupils who continued with Spanish into Year 12 went back to Spain again to maintain their friendship with their Spanish host families. We still hear years later of people staying in touch and meeting up with their partners from the exchange.
The link with the school in Zaragoza is part of Northgate’s wider European links. Our Spanish partner school is involved with projects with our other partner schools including our Dutch exchange school. As well as looking at teaching and learning here at Northgate, Mila was here to reinforce our partnership and make plans for the exchange next year and into the future. We look forward to continuing to work with her.
