Forging Links: The Value of Student Exchange - HMC (The Heads' Conference)

Is this something you’d be interested in exploring?

The DM dropped into my LinkedIn inbox in January 2022 just a matter of weeks after I’d started out as Head at Oswestry School. It was a message from Elwyn van den Aardweg, then Headmaster of Kearsney College in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. I’ve never met Elwyn, but like many of my LinkedIn contacts, we have mutual connections in the world of education, particularly in South Africa where I had spent a year teaching at Highbury School just down the road from Kearsney back in 2003.

Kearsney were looking to revive their exchange programme following two years of abeyance during the covid period and Elwyn wondered whether this would be something that Oswestry School would be interested in.

Interested? Absolutely!

Man in a beige suit jacket and red tie sitting at a round outdoor table with a group of students in green blazers. They are engaged in conversation, with a school building and greenery in the background.

Our school motto – We Learn Not For School But For Life – informs an education that is focused on developing the skillsets and mindsets for future thriving, encouraging our pupils to step out of their comfort zone and embrace new opportunities. A student exchange programme would perfectly align with that educational philosophy, and what’s more, would further enhance our commitment to – and belief in – the importance of a global mindset and intercultural fluency. So, in the spirit of Kearnsey College’s motto – Carpe Diem – I quickly agreed to the idea, and we set to work on putting in the groundwork and preparations for a first exchange between our two schools.

A pioneering first group of Kearsney College students joined us during Michaelmas Term 2023, an impressive trio who quickly immersed themselves into our school and embraced the opportunities of living and studying in a new school environment. They enjoyed the dual benefits of being weekly boarders alongside weekends with their host families, an arrangement that would be reciprocated when three Oswestry School pupils travelled to South Africa during the Summer Term 2024 for what would be – in their words – a life-changing experience.

The exchange programme is now in its third year with a well-established partnership between our schools, with the programme expanding during the last academic year with a similar exchange programme embarked upon with St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls just a matter of miles away from Kearsney. My eldest daughter was one of the first girls to spend a half term at St Mary’s and, as a parent, I can attest to the considerable benefits the exchange programme had for her. I think she’d have been quite happy staying out there such was the overwhelmingly positive experience she had!

The benefits of an exchange programme are considerable from an educational point of view as well as from the perspective of personal development. Here are the reflections of two of our pupils who took part in the exchange programme last year to illustrate the impact it had on them:

Group of 15 students in matching school uniforms, including green blazers and plaid skirts or trousers, standing on steps in front of a building with a white door and window.

An exchange programme is not without challenges, not least the significant work needed from a dedicated programme co-ordinator, but the benefits for the pupils who go on the exchange are well worth that effort, and there are considerable benefits for both schools, too, whose respective communities are undoubtedly enriched and enhanced through the experience. To borrow the title of the recent ISASA (Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa) conference attended by HMC Chief Executive Simon Hyde, an exchange programme is a wonderful way to forge links between like-minded schools in different countries, providing a uniquely impactful experience for the young men and women who embark upon the adventure of a lifetime.

I passionately believe in the value of exchange programmes, and would warmly encourage fellow HMC schools to consider setting one up. My advice would be simple: don’t delay; seize the day!