China Student Exchange 2019
The school initially had a partnership with Suzhou Foreign Language School, near Shanghai in China. This partnership began 11 years ago and involved Chinese students and teachers staying at Hanley each summer term as a student exchange or study trip. The principal of Suzhou, Mr Cao, a respected educationalist in China, created Lunhua Education to administer private schools in Suzhou and to administer Jining Confucius International School Jining Confucius International School on behalf of the local authority in Jining, Shandong Province, China. A partnership between Hanley and Jining Confucius International School came from the early partnership with Suzhou and Principal Cao. Jining Confucius International School had their first student exchange in the summer term of 2017 and has continued with this each summer term since then. In April 2018, John Ellis, Hanley's Director of International Operations, visited all the Lunhua Education schools in Suzhou and Jining Confucius International School. Students will make their first visit to Jining Confucius International School in October 2019 as part of Hanley's Cultural Tour of China 2019.
The China Student Exchange Programme 2019 is the third time Hanley has hosted staff and students from Jining Confucius International School during the summer term. Sixteen students and two teachers came from Jining Confucius International School. Chinese students were allocated a Hanley student, from years 7, 8 or 9 as a buddy and went to the same lessons as their buddy. Buddies are selected through an application process and 80 students wanted to be a buddy this year. Our Chinese guests lived with a local family as homestay family. Chinese students prepared and delivered year group assemblies for years 7, 8 on Chinese culture, history and life in a Chinese school. The Chinese teachers delivered spoken and written Mandarin language lessons to our German guests on the German Exchange and delivered 3 sessions to year 4-6 students from local feeder primaries on spoken and written Mandarin during the Primary Festival of Languages.
