Wellington College is partnered with the Lycée Européen de Villers‐Cottêrets.

Togethether we have been working on a creative project centered on theme of rugby during the war ‐ Au Coeur de la Mêlée / In the Heart of the Scrum. 

In 2014, the first group of students undertook research linked to World War 1 and worked at a distance with students in France.

In April 2015, a group of 18 from this class traveled to France to the Lycée Européen de Villers‐Cottêrets to see sites associated with the project, to meet the students with whom they had been communicating electronically and to take part in school and family life in France. 

This video gives a taste of their time in France:

We created a website [ https://grandeguerreww1.wordpress.com/] shared by both schools. It allows students to make their completed projects available to each other and to a wider audience. Students are encouraged to write or record in their 2nd language as far as possible. Each year the year 11 classes continue to develop the theme and to add their projects. Some of them have now chosen to research stories of their own ancestors. The site is a lasting record of their work for the 4 years of the project.

As well as a bi-annual class exchange, there is an reciprocal annual exchange - one student travels and lives with the other for 9 weeks. The French student comes to NZ in August and the NZ student goes to France in December.