St Mary’s hosts Dutch visitors

The European visitors not only had the chance to sample what life is like in the top Grammar school but also had the opportunity to visit the newly opened Titanic experience, visit Genesis bakeries and take part in a ‘Maths Hats Day’ at Castledawson Road school.

Their visit follows Mrs Gillespie, Principal of St Mary’s Grammar School and Miss McAllister, Co-ordinator of Comenius, visit to Reutlingen in Southern Germany in September 2011.

Plan’s were made during the trip for a two-year Comenius project which has seen St Mary’s partner with schools in the Netherlands and Germany.

They had the opportunity to see around Freidrich List Gymnasium and attend their lessons as well as visiting the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

The project focuses on ‘Entrepreneurship and the World of Work’ and activities such as an exchange of cultural parcels took place in September and powerpoints detailing the history of each country’s entrepreneurial spirit were shared on the Virtual Learning Environment in January.

A Comenius committee comprising of twenty Year 10 students from St Mary’s has been created to ‘steer’ the project forward and communicate with partner students, exchange curricular material and arrange further visits between the schools.

Speaking about the exciting project, St Mary’s student Hannah Connolly said: “Making a connection with students from overseas is an interesting and valuable experience.”