Hamburg 2022

Over the May half term Deputy Head (Academic), Mr Emerson and Ms Healy, Head of German, accompanied seven Year 10 students to Hamburg, to spend a week with their partner students from the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg. We are delighted to be welcoming our partner students back here at Latymer this week! 

The exchange programme with the Johanneum is the longest-running student exchange scheme in the world, with the Covid-19 pandemic the only thing to have prevented it taking place since it started in 1948. 

This is what our Year 10 student Honor, had to say about the trip to Germany:

 We were given accommodation by lovely, welcoming German families, who dedicated their afternoons and evenings to showing us around their home city. 

Mrs Healy and Mr Emerson, as well as a member of staff from the ‘Johanneum’, whisked us away for fun and interesting trips, not only around Hamburg, but also to Lubeck, the home of Marzipan! In addition we visited St Pauli, where the Beatles spent much time performing at the dawn of their careers, as well as the ‘Museum der Arbeit’, where we used an impressive printing press to produce screen prints of our art. 

All in all, the week was a huge success, in which we were exposed to and embedded in North German culture, not only learning language but discovering customs and traditions, meeting friendly new people and making lifelong friendships. Best of all, there were no tearful goodbyes at the airport on Sunday, but rather cheerful acknowledgements that our partners will soon be coming to Latymer! 

Thank you so much to Mrs Healy and Mr Emerson for organising such a brilliant week, to the Johanneum for giving us the once in a lifetime opportunity to be immersed in a foreign school, and to all of the host families who welcomed us into their homes!  

Author: Karen Dove