First stage of the BJR (Bayrischer Jugendring) exchange is once again complete.

On 16 February, six exchange students from Bavaria, Germany, commenced their ten week stay at Westbourne Grammar School and on the 28 April, they flew back to Germany.

This is the third year that we have participated in the BJR exchange, and it is the largest number of students who have participated to date. It is a straight exchange, six Westbourne students who hosted the visiting students will travel to Germany at the end of this year for a ten week stay in Germany.

The exchange students come from different schools in Bavaria, and accordingly our students will travel to different schools at the end of the year as follows:

• Barbara Bundschuh, from the Thomas-Mann-Gymnasium, Muenich, was hosted by Priscillia Boey 10D
• Elisa Menna, from Gymnasium Grünwald, Grünwald, was hosted by Isabella Krbaleski 10F
• Linus Dierheimer, from valentin-Heider-Gym Lindau, Lindau was hosted by Austin Marks 10H
• Roman Fischer, from Ortenburg Gym Oberviechtach, Oberviechtach was hosted by Spartan Nandal 10P
• Patrick Bokelmann, from Gymnasium Waldkraiburg, Waldkraiburg was hosted by Leo North 10M
• Paul Vehlow, from Erasmus-Grasser-Gymnasium, Muenich was hosted by Mostafa Shirzada

We would again like to thank the families who hosted these students by opening their homes to them, making them feel welcome and giving them a taste of Australian life. The students integrated well into our school community  and thoroughly enjoyed their stay. A hige thank you also to the staff, who included these exchange students in their subject classes and allowed them to experience our school life.

The benefits of these exchanges are numerous and include contributing to international understanding by becoming familiar with another culture, improving language skills and enhancing personal development by facing challenges of different cultures and different ways of thinking.

Kerstin Keller