Zreče students visit Settlebeck School, June 2005

On Wednesday 22nd June Peter, Polona and Barbara, the Zreče teachers, arrived at Settlebeck at 10.30pm with fifteen Year 9 students after a long day of travel from Graz in Austria via Stansted to Blackpool. The students met their host families and were immediately whisked off home to supper and bed.

On Thursday the teachers and students came to school and, with their hosts, joined other Year 8, 9 and 10 students for a morning of drama activities. These involved our guests in 3½ hours of intensive English conversation with Settlebeck students and we were delighted to see how well they coped with this challenge. Soon they were engaged in role-play, games and mini-dramas, presenting their efforts to the rest of the group and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

After a school lunch they were accompanied by their hosts on a walk by the river along the Dales Way and into Sedbergh to look around the town.

On Friday, fifteen Settlebeck students (including the hosts) accompanied our Zrecian guests on a trip to Carlisle Castle, Cathedral and town centre. From there we went to Housesteads Roman Encampment on Hadrian's Wall and our visitors were infused with a sense of the history of our region through the Romans and the Border Reivers. We constantly expected thunder storms and torrential rain on this day but, as the rest of England and Scotland were battered by these storms, we managed to escape and our guests were spared the experience of real British weather.

On Saturday, again accompanied by Settlebeck students, we walked in Borrowdale in the Lake District. An extended dip in the river near Grange was much appreciated at the end of a very hot day.

On Sunday the visitors spent time with their host families and in the evening came together for a party in the school hall at Settlebeck.

On Monday, their last day with us, we went to Manchester. First there was an official tour of Manchester United football stadium, which was much appreciated by our visitors who seemed to be great United fans. Later there was time for shopping in the city centre and, since their capital city of Ljubljana has a population of only 300,000, it was quite an experience for them to see such a huge city.

They returned that evening for a barbecue at Settlebeck and lots of fun games and activities on the field, culminating in the inevitable Zreče-Sedbergh tug-of-war and egg throwing.

It was a sad and only half-awake parting at 4.30am on Tuesday morning. We'd all made good friends and we will all keep in contact.

The first cohort of Zrečian/Settlebeck twins has exchanged and the relationship between our young people, staff and our schools has been forged. We look forward to next February when forty Year 9 Settlebeck students will take their first step towards making the bond.