New school-excange project with Claremont Fan Court School, Surrey (not far from London) from Sunday, 6th October 1996 to Sunday 13th October 1996.

On Sunday, 6th October, two boys and one girl from our secondary school (Realschule Ulm-Wiblingen) and another girl from the grammar school (Gymnasium Ulm-Wiblingen), together with Herr Haunschild, set off for London from Stuttgart airport, to take part in an exchange of pupils which had been initiated by Frau Motzer in conjunction with Mrs. Udell.

The goal was not simply to visit the school, but to undertake a joint project with their pupils. The object of the exercise was to begin the restoration of an old Victorian path through a wooded area in the school grounds. The school building dates from the 18th century and was originally the residence of the Earl of Clare, to whom it owes its name Claremont. It is picturesquely situated on a hill in the middle of extensive grounds. Queen Victoria visited the house regularly and the buried path has been called after her. The Claremont Tree Society, a group dedicated to looking after this large area, put tools at our disposal and, under the guidance of Mr. Eric Leight, we succeeded, in the course of the week, in uncovering and restoring over 70 meters of the old path.

Besides this, we visited numerous classes and organised two Assemblies, at which Simone Graf, Ralf Zander, Florian Zimmer and Herr Haunschild played songs on the flute, clarinet and guitar, followed by conjuring tricks, juggling and fire-eating; all this won over the other pupils and teachers. None of the participants wanted to leave and they are all looking forward to the English pupils' return visit in March 1997. Karl Haunschild

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