Franco-Aussie ties sealed

By Bridget Cook
A GROUP of Hampton Park Secondary College students will jet-set to France next month with the goal of building strong bonds with the country.
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD), in collaboration with Veteran Affairs, has planned the overseas student study tour to France with the aim of building on the strong bonds created between France and Australia, as a result of World War I.
The project will involve 20 Year 9 and 10 students from Southern Metropolitan Region of DEECD visiting Picardie, France, in April.
The visit will take place during the first term holidays and fit in with the Anzac World War I commemorations at Villers-Bretonneux in Picardie.
The students were chosen on the basis that they had not travelled overseas before, were currently studying French and planned to study French in VCE. Their interest in the links between Australia and France as a result of World War I was also taken into account.
The eight students from Hampton Park Secondary College will join students from Lyndale Secondary College, Dandenong High School, Mordialloc College and McKinnon Secondary College, accompanied by four teachers selected from participating schools, on the tour.
Hampton Park Secondary College assistant principal Anne Ure said the group would visit schools and participate in home-stay arrangements in Picardie and Lyon.
“The students will spend a significant amount of time being spent in the school environment to maximise benefits to all participants and for language acquisition,” she said.
She said the tour would be a learning experience in many ways, with the students also to attend the Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux, the museum Historial de la Grande Guerre and undertake collaborative learning projects, which include a module on French society and culture and an investigation into Australia’s involvement in the history of Picardie.