German Partnership Exchange – Visit 7th to 11th June 2026

#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 20%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

: Reviewed by Lucy White

: Reviewed by Constantina Nichola

We recently welcomed 20 students to Presdales from our German Partnership school ‘Gymnasium am Neandertal’ (Gymneander for short!). They were with us for 5 days, experiencing life in an English school with a full programme of events both in and out of school. The visit began with a joint visit to London, when we showed our visitors the major attractions, picnicked in St James’ Park and spent some time in Covent Garden. They also experienced a normal school day with lessons at Presdales, a visit to Scott’s Grotto, and a Town trail in Ware. Our parents generously donated items for the traditional cream tea, including large numbers of scones, clotted cream and jam as well as home-baked Victoria sponge cake. A highlight this year was when our German partners visited their partners in their homes for tea on one evening. We said our final Good Bye this year at the Hollywood Bowl in Stevenage. The weather was kind and we had lots of fun.

It was lovely to see our students taking good care of their partners and developing friendships with students across the school. Thank you to parents and carers who have supported this partnership, which we hope will continue to develop and grow. The photos here show that our students and their partners really did exchange ideas and experiences.

Abel Smith Languages Day – 4th June 2026

On 4th June, 20 students from Years 8 to 10 representing French, German, Italian, German and Spanish volunteered to teach some language to classes at Abel Smith Primary School during their Language Day. Our students prepared some lively lessons and delivered them with great confidence. We were very proud of the contribution they made to the day.

Russian

Year 9 Russian students enthusiastically taught pupils in Years 3, 5 and 6 how to say “I play…” various instruments in Russian, and introduced them to a traditional folk instrument, the balalaika. The Abel Smith students were very welcoming of our students’ efforts and greatly appreciated their encouraging tone and enthusiastic delivery. Well done to all involved.

French

Year 10 French students taught the French version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to Nursery and Reception classes.

Nancy, Olivia, Megan and Selma planned the whole lesson very thoroughly and with an engaging PowerPoint presentation. They made sure that the language and the progression of the lesson were age appropriate.

The Reception and Nursery classes loved the song and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all.

Spanish

Year 10 students began by teaching the vocabulary for musical instruments in Spanish to Year 1 and Year 5. The students were kept very busy colouring the Spanish instruments by numbers and practicing colours and singing a song to practice the days of the week.

German

Year 10 German students also taught Years 1 , 2 and 4. They also began with the names of instruments in German and moved on to dancing and singing a well-known Karneval song called the Fliegerlied. The Year 4 class also managed to sing and dance to Golden by K-pop Demon Hunters in German.

Italian

Year 9 students taught Italian lessons to Year 2 and Year 6 pupils. Year 2 learned animal vocabulary to help them sing ‘Nella vecchia fattoria’, the Italian version of Old MacDonald’s Farm, while Year 6 learned some key musical terms, such as the names of musical instruments and adjectives like adagio and allegro. We were very impressed that some of the Year 6 students recognised these words from sheet music in their instrumental lessons.