Relaunch of Wales High School’s Romanian Exchange

Welcoming WHS to Mârşa School.

Over the Easter holidays staff from Wales High School travelled to Romania to relaunch our Romanian Exchange. The last exchange took place over 10 years ago, so staff at both Wales and Mârşa School in Sibiu were eager to organise our next one!

WHS staff arrived in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, where they explored the city and planned where they would take our students on our next exchange trip. The city was bustling with culture and a great time was had by all.

From Bucharest, Petruța Rus (an English teacher at Mârşa School who is organising the exchange on their part) travelled over 4 hours from Sibiu to Bucharest to pick us up, along with the school minibus driver! We travelled across Romania, passing through the Carpathian Mountains and spending some time at Bran Castle in Transylvania, which is nicknamed ‘Dracula’s Castle’. We eventually arrived in Sibiu where staff from Mârşa School joined us for a meal to celebrate the relaunch of our exchange programme. Amongst the staff who attended was Headteacher Costel Coropetchi, who remembers visiting Wales High School over 10 years ago, as well as our previous Headteachers, Lawrence Morton, John Day, and Pepe Di’Iasio from past exchange visits. The evening was spent reminiscing on memories made over the years, and staff are sure that there will be many more made in our future exchange trips!

A performance of traditional Romanian dancing from students at Mârşa School.

The following day, staff were blown away by their welcome to Mârşa School! They were greeted with performances of traditional Romanian dance, musical recitals, and a huge Romanian feast which was delicious. Staff toured the school, visited lessons, and talked about their plans for our future exchange visits. The visit certainly highlighted the importance of continuing our work to maintain our international relationships so we can provide our students with world-class opportunities to broaden their horizons and make lifelong connections. We are immensely grateful to the staff at Mârşa School for hosting us and making us feel so welcome; we look forward to welcoming them and their students to Wales High School soon!

Miss Caldwell

Delicious food cooked by the staff at Mârşa School