Athboy C.S. French School Exchange Trip.
Just before Easter 18 Transition Year and 5th Year students from Athboy Community School took part in a French exchange with the Lyceé Jean Monnet in Crepy-en-Valois in the Oise Départment of the Picardy region of Northern France. This is the 13th year of the exchange with the Lycee which is located close to the Autonne Valley area with whom Athboy has been twinned since 2000.
On Friday March 29th the Athboy group flew to Paris to begin the French end of the exchange along with teachers Mr. Anthony Leavy, Ms Colette Kane and Mr. Tony Magner. On the first full day, Saturday, the students visited the medieval town of Compiegne. The group visited the Chateaux de Compiegne built by Louis XV and restored as one of his many residences by, Napoleon. The students continued on to the National Transport Museum in the town. The group had a whistle stop tour of some of the local historical sights including Pierrefonds with its stunning castle overlooking a lake.
Sunday was a day spent with their host families but on Monday morning it was time for classes as the Irish accompanied their French hosts into various lessons. This was followed by lunch in the school canteen and an outing to the local cinema.
On the Tuesday the students enjoyed a full day trip to Paris. The first sight was the Stade de France in St. Denis. Afterwards the group continued on a walking tour of Trocadero, Champs De Mars and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Next up was the magnificent Louvre with its pyramid inverse as well as lunch in the Tuileries Gardens. The group completed the tour by visiting the Champs Elysees and the Arc De Triomphe
Wednesday was taken up with a trip to Reims, the capital of the Champagne-Ardennes region of France famous for its magnificent cathedral where French kings were crowned in the days before the republic. The group did a walking tour beginning at the cathedral which also took in the World War 1 memorial, Carnegie Library, the Town Hall, the medieval city and of course the shopping district for some well-earned retail therapy. Afterwards, as it was the final evening of the exchange, as a final goodbye the Lyceé hosted a soireé featuring music and traditional French cuisine.
The last day, Thursday, was spent in school doing a workshop on story-telling in both the French and Irish traditions. A local story-teller facilitated the workshop and told some well-known stories and legends of the local area and beyond. He spoke of the importance of these traditional stories and invited the Irish and French students to write and present their own using the techniques outlined in the workshop, various prompts such as cards and pictures and of course, their imagination. The busy itinerary continued with a return to Compiegne in the afternoon for bowling, Karting and Quaser-Laser before the Irish group departed for Beauvais airport and home
Earlier in March, 21 students from the French Lycee had visited Athboy for a week staying with host families in the locality. As well as attending classes with their Irish hosts, they enjoyed many cultural trips such as Newgrange, Croke Park Museum, Dublin city centre, Bettystown Strand and The Causey Experience.
All the students and teachers felt that the trip was very successful. The pupils got a lot out of the exchange and made some lasting friendships. Some are even hoping to heading back to France in the summer to renew acquaintances with their host families.
The students; Darragh de Barra, Emily Cole, Sinead Daly, Mya Frazer-Luc, Cillian Heaney, Jude Heary, Esha Hughes, Eoin Kane, Anna Kelly, Libby Kelly, Danny Lawlor, Conor Norton, Abby O’Neill, Caitlin Percy, Louise Reilly, Tadhg Walsh, Faye Wheeler and Caoimhe Woods would like to record their sincere thanks to their host families and to Mr. Anthony Leavy and Mdme Corinne Carillon who coordinated the exchange, teachers Ms Colette Kane and Mr Tony Magner of Athboy C.S. and Mdme Dominque Chibani and Ms Louise Henri of Lycee Jean Monnet who accompanied their group on the ‘away leg’ of the exchange as well as all the teachers who helped with various aspects of the trip.
Pupils from Athboy CS and Lycée Jean Monnet enjoy the sunlit courtyard of Chateau de Compiegne on the first day of their visit to the Picardy region
Pupils on this year’s French Exchange visited the historic and war damaged city of Reims pictured outside the city’s Cathederal, the site of the coronation of French Kinds in days gone by.