A PARTY of students from Fakenham High School and College has returned from a successful exchange visit to the Valencia region of Spain.
The group was based in Nules, a town about 25 miles north of the city in a prime orange-growing area.
Students lived with families throughout the week-long stay and were encouraged to practise their Spanish whenever possible.
A day trip to Va
lencia was highlighted by a visit to its futuristic Science Centre, a spectacular complex of buildings strikingly-landscaped by water pools. The Fakenham students are pictured above with those from Nules. Lessons were attended at the High school in Nules to learn something about the way education works at secondary level in Spain.
Visits were also made to the weekly market in the town, where the prices of fruit and vegetables were reckoned to be much lower than at home.
Other excursions took in the local coin and medal museum and a walled Moorish village.
The exchange coincided with the annual festival of Las Fallas, centred on St Joseph’s Day, when Valencia and surrounding towns get into carnival mode. Normal life is interrupted by marching bands, costumed parades, street entertainment, firework displays and much more besides.
Head of languages Anne Prentis, who organised the exchange, was delighted at the way it had gone.
“I think this was one of our best trips with all the students getting on well together,” she said.
“It helped that they had already met when the Nules group visited us in February and established friendships then. I was very pleased with the whole programme and look forward to it happening again next year.”
