How four years of hosting Chinese students has funded an educator partnership visit and helped subsidise a China tour for 30 students in 2027.
This October, Amy Green, Head of Languages at Frome College, will join Global School Exchanges on a partnership scoping trip — an eight-day itinerary visiting Shanghai, Suzhou and Zhangjiagang to explore new opportunities with some of the region’s leading schools.
Frome College has hosted multiple Chinese school groups over the past four years, earning enough credits through GSE’s hosting model to fully fund Amy’s visit and to heavily subsidise the cost for 30 students to have a once-in-a-lifetime China tour in 2027.
Running from 17–24 October 2026, the trip will see Amy visit a range of partner and prospective partner schools, including Shanghai Adcote School, Liangfeng High School in Zhangjiagang and Shanghai Thomas School, taking in campus tours, classroom observations and meetings with senior leaders to discuss curriculum links and future cultural exchange.
SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS
One of the schools Amy is scheduled to visit is Adcote School Suzhou, formerly known as Shattuck–St. Mary’s School Suzhou.
GSE’s relationship with the school stretches back to 2017, when Tom Saunders, GSE’s Managing Director, first visited the campus.
Nearly ten years later, it is particularly exciting to see these longstanding connections continuing to create new opportunities for UK schools.
For GSE, this is what international school partnerships are all about: building relationships over time, developing trust between educators and creating opportunities for students and teachers to learn from one another.
Amy’s visit represents another opportunity to strengthen those connections and explore how they can support future exchanges involving Frome College students.
CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
Despite a hectic work schedule, her itinerary takes in some of the region’s cultural highlights: a tour of Shanghai’s historic Bund, Yu Garden, bustling Nanjing Road and Tongli, a beautifully preserved water town often described as China’s Museum of Ancient Bridges.
Tongli is a particular favourite of ours. Located near Suzhou, this historic water town is known for its picturesque canals, traditional architecture and ancient stone bridges.
GSE has previously brought groups of UK students to Tongli as part of our school exchange programmes, combining visits to Chinese schools with opportunities to experience the country’s culture and heritage first-hand.
For Amy, the visit will provide another opportunity to explore the experiences that could form part of Frome College’s planned student trip in May 2027.
Students and educators visiting Shattuck–St. Mary’s School Suzhou (now Adcote School Suzhou) and exploring the historic waterways of Tongli during a GSE student exchange trip to China in 2018.
GSE’s China Director, Oaklyn Li, will lead the itinerary and will be on hand throughout the visit to guide, support, translate and answer questions. With more than ten years of experience, she is well placed to do so!
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
The visit will also serve as a scoping and due diligence exercise ahead of 30 Frome College students embarking on a similar itinerary in May 2027, with their programme blending an exciting mix of sightseeing, school visits, cultural experiences and opportunities to sample delicious regional cuisines.
As Head of Languages, Amy’s involvement reflects what’s central to this kind of trip: building real, working relationships between schools, shadowing peers, exchanging ideas and gaining a comparative perspective.
We’ve found that seeing a prospective partner school’s classrooms, meeting its staff and understanding its curriculum first-hand is what makes a future student exchange genuinely meaningful.
HOSTING CREDITS
Frome College’s experience demonstrates how welcoming international school groups can create opportunities for a school’s own pupils, teachers and senior leaders.
Through GSE’s school hosting model, UK schools can earn credits by welcoming international school groups and providing opportunities for visiting students to experience everyday school life in the UK.
These credits can then be used towards future GSE programmes, including student trips abroad, educator learning visits, senior leadership delegations and online exchange programmes.
For Frome College, four years of hosting Chinese school groups have helped fund an educator partnership visit and substantially reduce the cost of a planned China tour for 30 students.
HR & Quality Assurance Director
Global School Exchanges
Contact Global School Exchanges to learn how your school could earn credits towards 2027–28 educator trips, overseas senior leadership delegations, student exchange trips and online exchange programmes.