Monsieur Jean Louis Valentin, the principal of the high school named Lycée Professionnel Jean Macé, in Chauny, France. He wears the greenstone taonga that was presented to him as a gift from Ms Sandy Pasley, the principal of Baradene College of the Sacred Heart, in Auckland, New Zealand. The hospitality that Baradene College students received  in Chauny was greatly appreciated.

Nos amies d'EPSOM viennent de partir pour l'Espagne. Elles sont restées avec nous 4 jours, du 7 Avril au soir au 11 Avril au matin :  ce fut court, trop court mais si intense ! Nous venons de vivre des moments ensemble inoubliables. Cette rencontre qui a été le fruit de 16 mois de travail commun entre nos deux écoles, élèves et enseignants a été riche en échanges culturels, linguistiques et émotionnels. Nous avons pu constater que les échanges numériques ayant eu lieu au préalable ont permis à...

This evening the Mayor of Chauny held a reception in the town hall. The venue was very beautiful. There were lots of speeches from visiting dignitaries all in The French language. The photo shows the Mayor speaking. Mr Coutts spoke on our behalf (in Maori, French and English, and Mr Gallop translated the English part of the speech. The students supported Mr Coutts' speech by singing a song in Maori after his speech. 

This afternoon we went on a literary tour of the Somme battlefield. We visited the village of Frise, saw where German and French soldiers had trenches and discovered stories about the war written by the author Blaise Cendrars. 

Students from Chauny, France and students from Auckland, New Zealand in a group photo at Vauclair Abby.

This Abby was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It managed to survive until the French Revolution in 1789, when it was finally demolished and sold as "national property". Its geographical location very near to the Chemin des Dames led to what was left of its buildings being almost totally destroyed in 1917 by direct artillery bombardment during the First World...

Lucy and Rosie stand with the posters they created for the exhibition. Their topic was the Wanganui Detention Barracks where objectors were brutally punished. Today we hung the exhibition in Chauny, France. 

Today the French and New Zealand students hung the exhibition. 

Mercredi dernier a eu lieu la dernière séance d'atelier avant la cuisson des dernières plaques et l'assemblage par Hubert Dufour. Nous avons tous hâte de découvrir  le résultat final en compagnie de nos amies d'EPSOM GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL qui arrivent maintenant dans deux semaines.

Nous sommes également occupés à préparer leur accueil, à finaliser l'exposition  et impatients de les rencontrer.

L'équipe du projet "Nos fils, nos familles" LGT GAY LUSSAC

Another preview of our book. This time the pages show photos of Archibald Baxter and Mark Briggs (two conscientious objectors sent to the Western Front) and a great photo we sourced from Puke Ariki Museum of a NZ soldier on the duckboard at the front line. Briggs was dragged over this, the nails on it digging into his flesh and creating huge wounds. Baxter was marched to the front line in order to try to "break his will" to resist military service. In the end he got left there, and wandered...

The photo shows pages from our book that we are publishing as part of our Shared Histories Project. The book will be launched when we are in Chauny, France. The photo shows a section of the book written by the French students in Chauny who researched the execution of a group of soldiers in Vingré. These are known as the Martyrs of Vingré [Martyrs de Vingré]. The book is bilingual in French and English. 

Les Martyrs de Vingré sont six poilus, le caporal Paul Henry Floch et les soldats Jean...