Dear Parents / Guardians,
We are very happy to inform you that we are able to offer an Italian Exchange Programme for the school year 2023-24 for pupils of Transition Year and Fifth Year. The exchange programme is with a High School called ‘Liceo Ulivi’, which is in the city of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. This past academic year 2022-23 saw the return of the exchange programme for the first time since the COVID pandemic and it was a wonderful experience for students including significant social, cultural and linguistic benefits. This message is to make you aware of the exchange before officially collecting deposits from those students interested at the start of the 2023/24 academic year. More information will follow then.
Students involved will be paired with a suitable Italian student from our partner school in Parma and in September we will ask your child to fill in an application form so that we can match them with a suitable Italian student.
Part one of the exchange, you will host your child’s Italian partner in your home in Ireland for one week (7nights) in 2024. Dates are still to be finalised but it will be during the school term most likely in the second half of February 2024.
Part two of the exchange, your child will go to Italy for one week (7 nights). When in Italy, your child will stay with their partner’s host family, attend lessons in the Italian school and go on a range of trips in Parma and the nearby region. We still need to finalise the exact date with our partner school in Parma however we estimate that students will leave for Italy just before the Easter holidays on Wednesday 20th March 2024 returning to Ireland on Wednesday 28th March 2024 (the dates of the exchange will occur during this week but may fall one day either side of 21st / 28th March depending on the prices of flights, to be confirmed).
As this is such a fantastic opportunity for students of Italian, we are eager to start getting things organised as soon as possible. If your child would like to take part in the exchange, we would be grateful if you email Mr Delaney on [email protected] stating your child’s name and that they are interested in taking part in the exchange. We will then add your child to the Microsoft Teams group for the Italian Exchange Programme and we will contact you at the beginning of the academic year 2023/24 to pay a deposit where places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
We estimate that the programme will have a total cost of approximately €575 euro, pending the cost of return flights. This will include bus trips to and from the airport, flights, insurance, and several day trips and excursions, as well as all coach trips, for the 7 night stay in Italy. This price will also cover the cost of excursions in Ireland which your child will go on while the Italian students are visiting Ratoath College in February. We have also uploaded a PowerPoint on your child’s Italian class Teams page with further information, so please do have a look and contact Mr. Delaney ([email protected]) if you have any questions at all. We will be sending on information regarding the exchange from September and we will have an information meeting at the school in advance of the exchange taking place.
We look forward to hearing from those of you who would like to avail of the Exchange Programme offered.
Yours Sincerely,
Conor Delaney
The Italian Department.
