The French Cultural exchange is always a highlight to the school year.

In 2019 we had students from CIV (Centre International de Valbonne) school come over during their summer holidays in June/July to stay with Columba host sisters. Columba students then stay with their French host sisters over the New Zealand summer holidays for 6 weeks in Valbonne, near Nice. Participants get to improve their French on a daily basis but also experience living abroad with a different family and school life. We really enjoyed having this year’s group of ‘Frenchies’ and they were most helpful in the junior classrooms.

All 24 Columba students who sat the International French Diploma DELF on the 31st August passed the prestigious examination and some exceedingly well. There were entries in at each level, with very pleasing results. Notably the Year 11’s sat the A2 exam as a large group and did exceptionally well.

In addition, eight students entered into the regional Concours Oral competition and proved to be strong competition thanks to their hard work and practice. Overall, Columba had seven placings in total. Lucy Dong (Y9), Olivia Charles (Y11) and Holly Friedlander (Y12) all placed first in their divisions. As Holly won the Year 12 division, she will go on to compete at National level on the 5th of October.

Miss C. Gardiner

Teacher of French