Article Details

Article Details

Partnership with Nice

Author: Christina Gemmill, Inverclyde

Twenty two primary school teachers and four Quality Inspectors from across Nice visited schools in Inverclyde in November for a few days’ work-shadowing.

The city of Nice is located on the French Riviera in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Our visitors swapped their usual locale for a few days in Inverclyde and had a fabulous time! The visit was an opportunity for Inverclyde to showcase its wonderful primary schools, with state of the art facilities.

Schools, teachers and pupils shared learning and teaching ideas and the aim was to establish long-term relationships and international exchange projects between schools. The visitors were hosted by thirteen primary schools and saw high-quality learning and teaching taking place. They were very impressed with the running of the schools, pupils’ behaviour and attitude towards their learning and the opportunities afforded to them by Curriculum for Excellence. Out of school, they also enjoyed a Scottish-themed evening in one of the local secondary schools, with the Provost delivering an impressive speech in French! Another evening, they enjoyed a good old fish and chips gourmet meal after a historic walking tour. On their final day, they managed to visit ‘La Croix de Lorraine’, the memorial in Greenock commemorating the Free French naval vessels that sailed from the Firth of Clyde to take part in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

Our visitors returned home with renewed interest and enthusiasm, and Inverclyde is now applying for Erasmus+ funding to enable teachers to make a return visit within the next year.

“This was a fantastic experience for both our Nice colleagues and the teachers and pupils of Inverclyde,” concludes Christina Gemmill, Inverclyde’s 1+2 Languages Development Officer. “It was a superb team effort by Inverclyde, and I believe this is something that we can continue in the coming years so that so many people can benefit from this partnership.”

University of Strathclyde Education Scotland British Council Scotland The Scottish Government
SCILT - Scotlands National centre for Languages