Trip to beautiful town of Hellin for students

During their stay, the students relished two full days of lessons with their new Spanish friends at the college and were also given guided tours of fascinating local historical sites.

The visit generated so much interest that Spanish media broadcast the Councillor of Hellin’s reception for the English visitors, who were enthusiastically invited to enjoy their stay in the historic and beautiful Spanish town.

Margarita Mortimer, Subject Leader for Spanish at Collyer’s, said: “I’m delighted that the students can benefit from this wonderful opportunity.

This is a vital part of their AS and A2 course and is really integral to their studies. They were also able to enjoy a valuable insight of the culture by staying with Spanish families and sampling the everyday life of people their own age.

Melanie Russell, Assistant Principal at Collyer’s, said: “We have an excellent Spanish department and they have proudly represented Collyer’s and Horsham on this superb excursion. The Collyer’s staff and students thoroughly enjoyed the trip and we are very much looking forward to hosting visitors from Instituto Cristobal Lozano later in the year.”

As part of the trip, students visited the Old town of Murcia and the beach in Alicante, in glorious sun and high temperatures!

They also dropped in on the Oceanographic centre in Valencia, which features over 45,000 samples of 500 different specimens from under the sea.

Collyer’s Vice Principal, Steve Nicholls said: “We are massively grateful to the Instituto Cristobal Lozano community and the town of Hellin for their incredible hospitality and superb welcome for Collyer’s teachers and students.”

Margarita Mortimer added: “We have our fingers crossed that the weather in the coming months continues to improve and enables our Spanish visitors to have a glimpse of some English sunshine for a change!”

Report contributed by Collyer’s. Pictures by Milagros Herguedas.