Press contact:
Liz
Dillarstone
Publicity
and Press Relations Officer
Oundle
School
01832
277267
07810
788458
ed@oundleschool.org.uk
When
three Oundle School pupils studying Economics, seven studying Chinese and Head
of Economics, Mo Tanweer touched down at Shanghai airport with Head of Chinese,
Hua Yan, after almost a day of travelling, none of them really knew quite what
to expect.
Pupil,
Jeremy Manger (15) commented, “The short
coach trip to the school that was to be our home for the next week gave us a
glimpse of what lay ahead. We travelled
through all the different aspects of Shanghai, through areas of extreme poverty
on the outskirts, to the towering skyscrapers of the inner city.”
Over
the next week the group participated in a number of activities both in the
school and in the city of Shanghai. They visited COMAC, China’s main aircraft
manufacturer, and toured around the facilities before finishing off the day
with a brief lecture and a meal at the Fairmont Hotel, hosted by Oundle
parents, Andrew and Catherine Fischer. They also visited Shanghai Volkswagen
and received several case studies from Rubicon Partners about what it was like
to do business in China, particularly for Western firms operating in a very
different market and culture.
The
rest of the week was spent at a boarding school in Shanghai (Caoyang No.2 High
School), where pupils were engaged in lessons with the Chinese students, with
some trips out in the evenings, including a wonderful acrobatics show and a
trip on the impressive maglev train. The pupils also completed a homestay with
their Chinese buddies, spending a weekend immersed in the cultural and domestic
daily life of Chinese people.
Jeremy
added, “At the end of the week we each
spent two days at the house of one of the Chinese students, which for most of
us was the highlight of our week. At the end of our week in Shanghai, we said
our goodbyes and left for Beijing on the high-speed rail. Our week in Beijing
was just as packed, with tours to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great
Wall, the Olympic Stadium and many other interesting places.
The trip was enjoyed thoroughly by all, and was a brilliant opportunity
to experience Chinese culture, history and to learn about the future of a
country that in one way or another will have a huge impact on our lives.
”
Background Information on Oundle School
Oundle
School is situated in the quintessentially English Market town from which it
takes its name. The School's buildings, dating from the seventeenth to the
twenty-first century, are dispersed throughout the town, which is, to a large
extent, its campus.
The
School's history goes back to 1556 when Sir William Laxton, Master of the
Worshipful Company of Grocers and Lord Mayor of London, endowed and re-founded
the original Oundle Grammar School, of which he was a former pupil. In 1876,
the Grocers' Company decided to divide the School into two parts: Laxton
Grammar School, mainly for the inhabitants of the town, and Oundle School,
mainly for pupils from further afield. However, to mark the new millennium, the
Governing Body decided to reunite the two schools under the common name of
Oundle School, with Laxton as a House for day-pupils.
The
School is now able to offer a range of educational possibilities to meet
contemporary needs: co-educational day or boarding education, with Laxton
Junior as a 4-11 day school, and Oundle School as a boarding and day school,
with entry at 11, 13 or into the Sixth Form.