Thursday 8th November

A full day in Paris. This morning I went to visit Ecole Gambetta just down the road in the suburb of Sevres. The directress (Headteacher) did not speak to us and simply handed us over to one of her teachers. We went up three flights of stairs and went into a classroom with 23 children and the class teacher. The first lesson was geography and the children were amazingly well behaved. There was very little in the way of discussion and the children spent most of the lesson passively sitting or cutting out and sticking. They answered a few questions and copied some writing that the teacher put on the blackboard. There was no ICT and the children were responsible for all of their own equipment; paper, pens, pencils, whiteboards and everything else. A short rendition of "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" raised more interest and excitement than anything that went before.

Break time, twenty minutes in the play area, was followed by an English lesson. There was a different teacher for this lesson and she had a very specific script for what had to happen. The children joined in when told to do so but the learning was very limited. The behaviour and commitment of the pupils was first rate - the teaching was very poor and did not engage or encourage the children. There was little praise and the children all did the same thing and then were set the same activity for homework. The morning ended at 11.30am - the English group led a version of "heads etc" before the children went outside.

The children went out to play before going in to school for lunch. The meal provided was quite substantial, four courses, with all ingredients being freshly prepared and served. The dining room was a dedicated space used for nothing else.

This school was blessed with space - they had a gymnasium, a covered play area and two other very large open spaces in addition to all of the classrooms. There was an ICT suite and a library - but neither was being used during our visit.

The afternoon was spent finding a partner school. We presented our own schools and the French schools made a similar presentation later. It was a type of speed dating for schools - tomorrow we will find out whether or not we have been "chosen". The evening dinner was a well needed reak and brought the day to a conclusion.

An exhausting but very enjoyable day!