Dovetail Exchanges

Lila and Emma at Piha

Olivia and Megan visit Abel Tasman National Park

Farewelling our exchange students

The Kristin School Dovetail Exchange Programme continues to attract significant interest from our Kristin students as well as those from our partner schools. In Term 1 we welcomed 24 students

across Years 9-13.

Students from Redlands, Sydney; Scotch College, Adelaide; and College La Source, Paris, joined our Middle School and students from Elisabeth-von-Thadden-Schule, Heidelberg; St George’s College Quilmes and North, Buenos Aires, joined our Senior School.

All the students participated in our Camp Week, which was a major highlight for everyone and especially for those who have not experienced education outside of the classroom as we know it at Kristin. After spending between three and five weeks at Kristin, and living with a Kiwi family, all visiting students said they had a fantastic time here and would love to visit again one day soon. A huge thank you to our families for being so hospitable and treating these students as though they were a member of your family. exchange. However, due to COVID-19 conditions, this year the reciprocal part of exchange could not go ahead as planned. Clearly, all the students were very disappointed as they had been looking forward to seeing their exchange partner and having the chance to be culturally immersed, attend school and experience living with another family.

The relationships our students have formed with their exchange partners are testament to the continuous success of the Dovetail Exchange Programme through our worldwide partnership with schools.

Kathryn Hitchings

DOVETAIL EXCHANGE COORDINATOR

I think the exchange was good fun and a great experience in general. I think the exchange also taught me a lot of responsibility, it taught me to be more open-minded and I got to meet a lot of wonderful new people. I would definitely recommend this to the next Year 9 students in 2021.

CYNTHIA ZHANG, REDLANDS EXCHANGE, YEAR 9

It was so much fun having Mica live with us! As well as visiting famous places such as Rotorua, Mica got along with all my friends and me and it was great to see that she made some friends of her own too. Not only has she experienced the local culture here, but I also got to understand how different it is in Argentina and even improved my Spanish. I definitely would recommend future Spanish students to sign up.

PERNILLE GAO, ST GEORGE’S QUILMES EXCHANGE, YEAR 13

The Kristin 2020 French Exchange was a truly great experience. My buddy’s name was Julien and when he first arrived he looked like he was going to faint. The first few days were kind of dull but we slowly got to know each other and made conversation. On the second weekend, everyone went to Rotorua and we all went on the luge and hung out for the day. The last week was a blast as Julien got to know everyone the week before during camp. It was a different experience for him as he lives in Paris. Overall, it was great hosting a French student and I would do it again.

GAVIN DUGGAL, LA SOURCE EXCHANGE, YEAR 10

My buddy Alex arrived in New Zealand on 16 February. We were all waiting anxiously to finally meet the exchange students in real life after texting for so long. Alex made a whole lot of new friends at school, which made it a lot easier for me because I knew that if I wasn’t there she would have people to hang out with. I really enjoyed this exchange and I cannot wait to finally see her again once the world is in a better state. She is now one of my best friends and I’m super glad I applied for this massive opportunity.

LILY RICHARDSON, SCOTCH COLLEGE EXCHANGE, YEAR 9

An overseas exchange is an amazing experience that I’m so lucky to have had. Although I haven’t yet been able to go to Argentina it was still an amazing experience hosting my exchange student here in New Zealand. I got to make a good friend and show her around New Zealand; we did lots of fun activities and went to some cool places that I otherwise might not have seen. We went to Rotorua, Waipū, Whananāki and we also got to show her some of the Māori culture of New Zealand. Overall, I’m very happy to have been given this once-in-alifetime experience.

PHOEBE LEE, ST GEORGE’S NORTH EXCHANGE, YEAR 11

Lily and Alex with cabin group on camp