A broad range of educational opportunities is definitely on offer at Greenfield College at the moment. Renowned for their work in the international dimension, the college have recently made significant strides forward in relations with France.
For two years the college has been part of the Jules Verne programme, where a French teacher works and teaches at Greenfield for the full academic year. This enables students to benefit from a different perspective in learning and from the French teacher’s approaches to teaching and learning.
An understanding of the differences in culture and heritage is another feature of the JV programme, along with the obvious advantage of a native French speaking teacher helping with Modern Foreign Language speaking and listening skills. Greenfield is required to send a teacher to work within the French education system as part of a reciprocal visit. Mrs Dixon has just completed a seven week placement in Picardi and is busy sharing experiences with students back in the classroom.
This year’s Jules Verne teacher, Mrs Poll, bravely decided, to bring her two young daughters to the UK as part of her year long experience. Both girls are fully immersed into the English education system, with her younger daughter attending St Joseph’s Primary school and Margaux, a pupil in year 8 at Greenfield College. Starting with limited English, Margaux settled quickly into life at Greenfield and has made spectacular progress with her language and studies.
Over the last two weeks, the Greenfield French community has been strengthened further with three French students spending a fortnight in school to complete educational projects. The girls embraced the Greenfield culture and loved every minute of the ‘busy and very rewarding’ lifestyle. We hope to have secured strong links that can be built upon for years to come for both the students and our schools as a whole.
Assistant Head teacher, Stuart Dixon, said ‘Our relationships with France are particularly strong at present. We are constantly developing links to enhance our wider curriculum and to develop global citizens. This teaches true life skills to our students and develops rounded individuals.’
