A North Galway secondary school is putting special focus on the development of language skills to provide their students with greater options in their future life.

Following a recent trip to Germany to visit their partner school there, students from Archbishop McHale College in Tuam then embarked on a journey to France last week to further enhance their conversational language skills.

Principal John David Kearney said that – following a recent survey carried out by their TY students – they learned that there are 15 different languages spoken in the school.

“We are so proud to celebrate the wealth of diversity in Archbishop McHale College,” he added.

Students from various years embarked on the learning experience to both Germany and France and it is something that the school will be encouraging in the future.

The 500-student school with a teaching staff of 44 has expanded considerably in recent years in terms of its intake.

John David Kearney is proud of the fact that, apart from their students achieving high grades as they prepare for third level education or entering the workplace, their desire to be competent in new languages is high on their priority list.

“The more language skills our students have, the greater the opportunities that are open to them as they leave education. Having a command of languages makes them more employable both here and abroad,” he added.

A substantial percentage of the Archbishop McHale College students come from various countries, most notably Eastern Europe – and they boast a good degree of fluency in both English and Irish.

When the students visited their partner school in Ellwangen, located between Nuremberg and Stuttgart, they learned all about the events leading up to the Nazi establishment of concentration camps.

Mr Kearney said that Sachsenhausen was an unforgettable visit. “We learned about the horrors that humans can inflict on one another and the museum there taught us so much.

“Each and every one of our students treated the visit with the gravity it required and well done to them.”

He said that he and a number of the teaching staff couldn’t be prouder of the students in Nuremberg. They navigated a train station, listening to instructions and directions in German and finding out information online about what platform they should be on.

During the European Day of Languages 2024 the students celebrated all things German in Ellwangen and engaged with students in their partner school there.

“Our last day in school in Ellwangen was great. We enjoyed some lively lessons and completed a scavenger hunt around the city. We were sad to say goodbye to our host families in the morning.

“The friendships that have blossomed over our years of partnership never fail to amaze us,” he said as almost 50 students travelled to the region for the exchange trip.

Pictured: Some of students from Archbishop McHale College who went to Eugen-Bolz-Realschule in Ellwangen, Germany. Back: John McCormack, Kamile Bazyte. Middle: Assistant Principal and German Teacher Danni Barrett, Fionn Kavanagh, Robert Igoe Devlin, Principal John David Kearney. Front: Saoirse Moloney and Lena Wojtala. Photo: Jacinta Fahy Photography.