Visiting Students Leave with Heavy Hearts and Happy Memories

Last Friday saw six of the nine students from China say goodbye to the College having spent seven glorious days immersing themselves in the breadth and challenges of a top independent boarding school. The pupils, who had won a competition to come over to the UK, were exceptional ambassadors of their own schools and were a credit to the competition organisers, the China Daily, and to the sponsors, the Bank of China.

Throughout the week, the pupils took part in a range of activity based learning both in and out of the classroom, much is the need to go beyond the curriculum to really highlight the subject knowledge. CRE8, a student led arts evening, was one such highlight, which saw several of the visiting pupils play instruments, sing and also demonstrate the best way to make a traditional Chinese tea.

Three of the pupils, Dora, Jolie and Cici, are staying at the College for an additional week and will leave on Friday 16th February having asked to stay for longer as they were enjoying it so much. Jolie said, "From the moment we arrived, we have all been made to feel really welcome, from all the pupils right through the school and the staff and House parents have been brilliant at ensuring we experience as much as we can. I have so many wonderful stories and memories, I can't wait to share them with my friends back in China. I am sure after listening to them and watching the documentary, they will all want to come to Ellesmere College, as do I!" The College will be filming the pupils' experiences to create a story that allows this to be shared with our wider global community.

Nick Pettingale, Director of External Relations, who was instrumental in establishing the link said, "It has been an incredible learning experience for all concerned. The visiting pupils have taken on board everything we offered and have really made the most of their time here. Our own student community have really engaged with the visitors and many have learnt much from the visit. The "buddy" set-up has been terrific and it would be unfair not to single those pupils out who have done an incredible job on behalf of the College to make the visiting students have the best time as possible. These pupils are exceptional examples of what the Ellesmere experience is all about and I am happy to say that they are the rule here, not the exception."

"An abiding memory of the visit will be the day we said goodbye to the pupils who were all dressed in Ellesmere College kit, gifts given to them by the friends they had made as a way of taking a little bit of Ellesmere home with them. Each left with a "goody-bag" along with their own copy of the Shropshire Star, so they could show parents about their time as local celebrities. There were tears shed as we said farewell, but not goodbye. The pupils made a great impression on us and Ellesmere has made a great impression on them; I hope we will see them again in the not so distant future taking up a place in the school that they already hold so dear."

16th February 2018  Back to News