QE is a partner with three European schools and one school in India: like QE, all are academic schools which are renowned for excellence in their local areas.

The School believes that foreign language exchanges are of great value for all pupils learning another language. Although enjoyable, such exchanges in fact constitute a relatively intensive form of learning. Boys stay with a host family where they inevitably become the centre of attention. In such a setting, boys’ language skills often develop quickly as they start to use and adapt what they have learned in the classrooms and language laboratories back at QE.

Not only do exchanges enable boys to use a language in real-life situations, but, importantly, they also provide the opportunity for QE students to communicate and interact with young people of a similar age to themselves. During an exchange, boys visit local attractions and learn about the history of the area in which they are staying. The benefits thus go well beyond the linguistic: exchanges deepen the participants’ understanding of another culture and help to break down any prejudices or stereotypes they may hold about the country or its people. Boys frequently stay in contact with their exchange partners for many years; in some cases, lifelong friendships have been established.

In addition to the benefits for the boys who go on them, exchanges are also beneficial for participating teachers and for the wider QE community. They give teachers the opportunity to refresh their own knowledge of the language and culture of the host country. And when the overseas exchange groups come to visit QE, other boys and staff are often able to get involved in the visiting group’s activities.

French exchange

The current French exchange, held for the first time in 2010, is conducted with the Collège St-Pierre, a private school in Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon. QE Teacher of French, Océane Jullien, is a former pupil of the school.
Open to boys in Years 8 and 9, it offers an immersion into French life. Activities may include trips to learn about wine-making, as well as visits to local towns and the opportunity to shop at a street market. Boys also have the opportunity to experience a typical day of lessons in the French school.

German exchanges

Pupils from Years 9 and 10 are able to participate in the German exchange to the Friedrich von Bodelschwingh Gymnasium (grammar school) in Bielefeld, Germany. This has been running since 2005 and was established by a former QE teacher who originally came from the Bielefeld area and whose father worked at the Friedrich von Bodelschwingh Gymnasium.

The exchange represents an excellent opportunity for boys to practise their language skills for GCSE. Each year, boys spend up to a week staying with their host families in Germany and then host their partner during their week-long return visit to QE. Most trips take place during term time.

The programme of activities typically includes attending normal lessons at the German school, social events such as a disco or camp fire and buffet, a pupil football match, a bowling tournament, a trip to the famous car factory museum in Autostadt Wolfsburg and a trip to see a live premier league football match at the local stadium.

This partnership continues to develop. During the first QE music tour of Germany in 2009, the climax was a performance in front of 400 people in Bielefeld.

A separate German exchange programme has also operated for many years with the Einhard Gymnasium (grammar school) in Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia. This gives QE students in Year 12 the opportunity to improve their spoken German through participation in work experience in Germany, with a reciprocal arrangement operating for students from the Einhard Gymnasium to undertake work experience in England.

The German students usually come to England for 10 days just before the Easter holidays, stay with their English partners and work in a placement that is often provided by parents or friends of Queen Elizabeth’s School.

The QE Sixth-Formers travel to Germany after their AS exams, staying with their partners and working in a placement in Aachen. Every attempt is made to provide QE boys with a placement of their choice. Placements have, for example, been found with banks, lawyers, engineering firms, magistrate courts, hospitals, schools, libraries, book shops, pharmacies, leisure centres and computer companies.

This exchange those fulfils a double function: those studying A-level German have always found it valuable for the opportunity it affords them to practise their German and learn about the German way of life, but it also offers them an insight into a career they might wish to pursue in the future.

Links with India

Further afield, Queen Elizabeth’s School has a long-established partnership with the Sri Sathya Sai English Medium School in Vellanad, a village in the state of Kerala, south-west India. This school has much in common with QE: pupils compete successfully against other leading schools in local, state and national competitions; its students achieve considerable success in public examinations irrespective of their often-poor backgrounds and notwithstanding the modest resources of the school, and demand from parents for places at the school is high.

QE aims to assist Sri Sathya Sai School in its development. Support from pupils and parents at QE has helped the Indian school to develop considerably since 2002. It has moved from rented accommodation to a well established campus and the School’s roll has increased.

In return, this link contributes to the cultural and social development of QE pupils. A significant number of Sixth Form students choose this as a cause to support and some have spent part of their gap year working at the partner school.