France/School twinning: Anne Sylvestre and Rookwood (Andover) primary schools twinned

Nadine Bayou, president of the Redon twinning committee, who warmly welcomed the departure of Josette Jugé, former president, and Michel Lambert, vice-president, both figures in the Redon twinning scheme, confirmed the good news of the renewed school twinning, with Anne Sylvestre Primary School now linked to Rookwood Primary School in Andover, our twin town.

School exchanges had enjoyed a number of successful years, notably with the Bellevue, Lycée and Cleu middle schools, and those of Goch and Andover. This was no longer the case. The twinning committee has decided to relaunch this type of exchange, which can only facilitate the arrival of new members.

At the beginning of July, the president, accompanied by Sophie Le Bot and Yannick Baudu, who are in charge of the project with Martine Evain, met with Mayor Pascal Duchêne to discuss a project for linking the two elementary school in Redon and Andover. The project was based on the government's Emile scheme (Teaching a subject integrated with a foreign language). "We wanted to facilitate contact between teachers and pupils in our two towns. If these exchanges prove conclusive, we can imagine helping to organize the reception of the families concerned in Redon, and thus inviting new people to join us."

With the mayor's approval of the project, the partnership was officially launched on November 14 at the Anne Sylvestre school in the presence of Anne-Cécile Hurtel, deputy mayor for school affairs, Muriellle Caumartin, director of educational services, the school's teaching staff and headmistress Marion Doucet, and the Twinning Committee board.We exchanged views and confirmed the commitment of the town and our committee to the teachers," explains Nadine Bayou, who is delighted with this step forward and is looking forward to further school exchanges.

Discussion groups

Another new feature is the launch of English discussion groups in cafés. For the president, the idea is "to get together for a drink and chat in English. Each group will have its own English-speaking facilitator, who will be responsible for guiding the conversations. All generations and all levels of English are welcome," providing an opportunity to make linguistic progress before the next meeting between the three towns, at the end of May in Goch.

Source: www.ouest-france.fr/