15 February 2019
On Wednesday 6th February a party of 10 students set out for a 3 day visit to Strasbourg. We spent a full day at the European Parliament where our students were excellent ambassadors for our school and the North East of England.
It was a pleasure to accompany them and enjoy their participation in this event together with representatives from schools all over Europe.
Student, Maddy Abel wrote the following account of the visit:
'This February, ten languages students had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Strasbourg and participate in the Euroscola event at the European Parliament for a day. Here, we were able to express our opinions on political issues, such as the environment and the future of youth employment, as well as one member of our group being able to speak in front of over 600 people in the hemicycle in order to introduce Durham Johnston to the students from other countries participating in the event. In the hemicycle, we were able to ask members of the European Parliament on their views and ideas about various issues that the EU is facing, and we could even experience what it felt like to vote on an important issue in the European Parliament by using the electronic voting system in place in the hemicycle. We were also given the opportunity to explore Strasbourg itself on the final day, and experience the cultures and traditions of the beautiful city. Overall, we all thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime opportunity and are extremely grateful that our teachers encouraged us to enter this amazing competition.'
Mrs Wood, Subject Leader for Languages