East Meets West at Tollbar

November 23rd, 2005

Thursday 10th October saw Tollbar College playing host to 14 lecturers from Zhengzhou Teachers College in central China.

These colleagues were part of a strengthening link between Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education and China where mutual opportunities exist for educators and students to find out about each others way of life and work.

Tollbar sixth form is partner to GIFHE sixth form in the unique North East Lincolnshire Sixth Form College Partnership which delivers some 35 A level subjects to students. Tollbar was the natural choice for the Chinese delegation to observe the Partnership premises and to go on to see one of the largest, and very successful, comprehensives in the country. Tollbar sixth form has welcomed students from China, Germany, Norway, Japan and Australia into our tutor groups and currently has several Chinese students.

Arriving in the morning the lecturers were welcomed into the Business & Conference Centre and pictures taken as gifts were accepted from Zhang Jian-hang the Vice Principal of Zhengzhou Teachers College. Martin Brown and Nigel Christmas gave brief talks and answered questions prior to a tour of the A Level teaching areas.

Some classes and tutors were visited and facilities seen and examined, then the group moved on to the rest of the site to meet a range of students and see our extensive ICT, Sporting,Science, Languages, Technology, Business and other academic departments.

After a much needed break back in the Business & Conference Centre we settled in to the observation room to see a Mathematics lesson delivered by Gavin Warnock. Our visitors were deeply impressed by the one way mirrors and the Interactive White Board - as well as the teaching, of course.

At the end of the lesson they went into the room to have a closer look at the IWB before pairing up to spend a little time in GCSE English lessons. Meeting finally in the College library there was just time to speak to students, look at a few books and get back to the Business & Conference Centre for lunch after which there were more photographs and a few questions before hand shakes all round and their departure.

At a reception later on that evening, hosted at GIFHE for the visitors, their impressions of Tollbar were deeply favourable. Who knows, maybe the link with our friends from the East will feature much more in the future of the Sixth Form Partnership.

Home | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Text Only