Latymer Upper School’s First Ever Exchange with the École Alsacienne

This October, six Latymer Upper School students headed off to Paris for the first ever exchange with the École Alsacienne in central Paris, not far from Le Jardin Du Luxembourg.

Clementine Desmons (MFL teacher, Head of Dance and Head of Peer Mentoring) and Debbie Kendall (Modern Languages and Head of Year 11) headed up the trip and we hear more from Clementine about the wonderful time that was had by all. 

“All in all, this is an excellent exchange. The school is very similar in size and ethos to ours, is in an excellent location and the staff are welcoming and accommodating. I really hope that in future years we can take more students who will benefit enormously from this immersive experience.”

Monday 

I met with the pupils at the start of the school day, all reported having had a lovely time with their host families over the weekend who went above and beyond to welcome them by taking them to see the latest exhibitions or having cultural experiences, taking them out for dinner etc. We headed to the Sainte Chappelle and Conciergerie where we admired the stained glass windows and learnt about Marie Antoinette’s final days in prison before her beheading.

We then started our guided walking tour to learn about the history of Paris during the 2WW. The tour focused on the lead-up to the war, life under the Occupation and the liberation of Paris (as I had requested, to tie-in with the A level curriculum). The guide, Clément, was brilliant, and explained most of the history in French with English translations when needed. He showed us the bullet holes in the Sorbonne, told fascinating anecdotes such as the many female résistantes who started publishing their own ‘call to arms’ pamphlets, and the heroism of the fighters in the lead up to the liberation of Paris.  Back at school, we were officially welcomed by the Head, Mr Pierre de Panafieu, who expressed his delight at our two schools’ new partnership. 

Tuesday

The pupils were in lessons in the morning then I met with them for the boat ride on the Seine to see all the famous monuments, and recreate the Olympic Games opening ceremony!

On our way back to school, we went to the Musée de la Libération where they learnt more about Général de Gaulle and Jean Moulin.

Wednesday 

I met the students in school at 8am. They had a FLE lesson (French as a second language) with a French teacher in a small group of 6 first thing. Then they went off to various lessons with their exchange partners. Joy gave me a really nice tour of the school. 

I met the students at 14.00 and we headed off to the Musee Carnavalet with Christian and one of the French students (Luke’s partner Hector). We got off the metro at Hotel de Ville to see the Town Hall and then walked (very slowly!) through the small streets to the museum.

Thursday 

The students were in lessons from 08.00 to 12.45 and then off with their partners for lunch. We headed by metro to Bir Hakeim and then walked along the banks of the Seine under the Eiffel Tower to the Musee du Quai Branly.

Friday: 

Our last day! We met at school and walked from there to the Catacombs. These tunnels were old quarries and in the 1800s, when it became necessary to move literally millions of bodies out of central Paris, they created this fascinating, slightly macabre underground cemetery. One of our students initially had some trepidation about the visit but decided to go anyway and was fine. It’s a really unusual visit, helped by an informative audioguide. 

After this, we walked back to school and gathered our bags to head to the Gare du Nord, a really easy journey on the RER B line from near school. 

Our train  was bang on time and we had an easy trip home.

Author: Rebecca Thornton