The Potsdam Hannah-Arendt-Gymnasium has established a school partnership with France. The cooperation exists with the Collège Saint Joseph in the town of Asnières-sur-Seine, which is part of the Paris metropolitan area. The responsible French teacher, Viola Oppitz, now reported to the PNN.
The contact to the neighboring country was established two years ago. This came about at the initiative of teacher Oppitz through the Franco-German Youth Office. At the beginning of April 2022, the then ninth grade with 24 high school students visited the French city – including class visits, working together on a photo project and visits to well-known Parisian sights.
In May 2022, the French students came to Potsdam. Such an exchange will take place again this year. After the visit of the 28 Potsdam students in Asnières-sur-Seine at the beginning of April, the French exchange partners are visiting the state capital this week. “Following the successful first exchange last year, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Collège Saint Joseph this year in order to consolidate the exchange and thus bring our students closer to the French language and culture,” says teacher Oppitz.
The Hannah-Arendt-Gymnasium in Potsdam-West is one of the younger schools in the city, and there are already partnerships with Potsdam’s sister city, Zanzibar. More than 500 students are currently studying there. The city of Potsdam has two partner cities in France: Bobigny and Versailles, which are also close to Paris.
