On the 17^th October a group of 45 students from third, fourth, fifth and sixth form ventured to Madrid, Spain, for the return leg of the Spanish Exchange 2011.  They were accompanied by Mrs Fajardo and Miss Lindesay from the MFL department and Mr Walker and Mr Fleming. The trip was a real success and the enthusiasm and passion for the Spanish language and culture is still clearly present in the great memories made over the ten days in Spain and the renewed vigour of our students in the classroom.  Our exchange school was a bilingual private school called Colegio Laude Fontenebro which is situated 45km North West of Madrid in the town of Moralzarzal in the Guadarrama mountain range.

Over the ten days, we visited a wealth of culturally diverse places.  We had day trips to the medieval village of Chinchón, visited the historic and academic capital of Salamanca, the fortified town of Toledo and marvelled at the impressive Roman aqueduct in Segovia.  In addition to this, we had a fun day sightseeing on a “hop on and hop off” tourist bus around Madrid and a trip to Xanadú shopping centre in Arroyomolinos.  The highlight was undoubtedly the football friendly between ourselves and the Laude school.  King’s team showed great skill and possession but had to settle for second place to the Spaniards (Well, they are World Champions after all!)  Everyone awaits the return match in the future on home turf in Chester!

Perhaps the most noticeable benefit of the exchange witnessed by the teachers at both King’s and our partner school was the potentially lifelong friendships that were made between the King’s students and their Spanish counterparts.  Everyone’s sadness was clearly visible on our final day as the emotional goodbyes continued for almost an hour!  Our pupils are keen to continue corresponding with their partners and hope to return in the future.  At the weekends and in the evenings, King’s students spent time with their host families. They confidently immersed themselves in all aspects of Spanish culture, most notably sampling new and exciting Spanish food and learning and improving their language skills.  We hope that the success of this twinning will continue in future years as we continue to foster international relations with the Laude Fontenebro School.