Barry Comprehensive School

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On 20th March a group of Barry Comprehensive year 9 students flew out of Bristol airport for a much anticipated visit to Italy. The students had been busy emailing for months and were looking forward to experiencing the ‘real Italy’ as they were staying with host families. For three of our boys it was a first ever flight, so there were butterflies too.

This return visit had been planned for a year, and followed a visit in 2009, where Barry Comprehensive acted as host school. Barry students and staff received a wonderful welcome in Prato and had an amazing week. All the boys agreed that the week had really exceeded their expectations. There were two visits to Florence, or Firenze as the boys now refer to it, visits to parks and museums and daily visits to school and a wide range of lessons. We also had a wonderful visit to the Tuscan hills and saw where the Etruscans were buried – a wonderful experience. Italians are famous for their food, and we now appreciate why: there were lots and lots of pizza, pasta and gelato; accompanying staff are now left with wider waist bands after a week of indulging!

All our students felt their Italian had improved and their understanding of Italian culture. They also all felt that staying with host families was a real factor in this as the majority of host families were not fluent in English and so the boys all had to practise their Italian. The students were praised by their host families for their courtesy and their attempts to contribute to household chores – many thanks to mums and dads for pep talks that did not go unheeded. Barry Comprehensive students are now keen to actually play host to Italian students for a planned 2011 visit. Italian looks set to grow and prosper at Barry Comprehensive School. Ciao!