French Exchange Trip to Fonthill Lodge

Fonthill Lodge in L’entente Cordiale with a school near Lille 

Y5 and Y6 Pupils of Fonthill Lodge school in Coombe Hill Road, East Grinstead have been learning first hand about international relations.  The ten and eleven year olds visited Ecole St Pierre in Villeneuve d’Ascq on the outskirts of Lille and stayed with French families for three nights.  Then the French pupils came to East Grinstead to stay with Fonthill Lodge families.  Each school takes part in lessons together and enjoys a busy programme of cultural visits.  There is also evening entertainment such as bowling which allow them to see that they may speak a different language but they all enjoy the same fun. 

As part of the visit to Sussex, Fonthill Lodge was proud to take their visitors to East Court and the site of the Meridian Line. 

A highlight of the visit was a trip to London.  The group visited Southwark Cathedral, the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern, walked over the Millennium Bridge and whispered in French and English in the Whispering Gallery high in the dome of St Paul’s.  After a riverboat trip to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge the coach returned via Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace.

“This was the two schools’ ninth cultural exchange together and it is about so much more than practising another language”, said Amanda Clark, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Fonthill Lodge.  “It is such a special experience for our pupils to stay for a short while with French families.  They learn where the culture is different and where experiences are shared and then show off their own school and area to their new friends”.

The school has recently been awarded an International School Award by the British Council for “outstanding development of the international dimension in the curriculum”.