A PROGRAMME bringing French and British students together in Swindon could be at risk post-Brexit.

Wanborough primary school recently received Erasmus funding from the British council to visit and welcome pupils from Ecole du Lac at Saint-Cyr, Poitiers, as part of a school exchange programme.

The project focuses on fun activities related to mindfulness and wellbeing while improving children’s knowledge of mental health.

But with Brexit, coordinators fear it could disappear. Modern foreign languages coordinator Pam Hook said: “The funding has been fantastic, it has been a massive support so we hope we will still be able to access funding post-Brexit. It is very important to have all this culture connection. It shows how to appreciate culture, tolerance and diversity.

“We have built some very strong bonds, we will keep communicating online but hopefully we will continue with the visit.”

The two schools have been in contact for several years and the results have been positive for both, according to Barbara Richard, pedagogical advisor in Saint-Cyr.

“We got really good feedback from our students, they are all very curious and they start understanding why English is an important language to learn. This programme helped them feel more confident and communicate more easily. They have a basic level of English, so they also use gestures as well, but it is brilliant how they find things in common.

“With Brexit coming, we fear that the programme will disappear. We know that it has been secured until 2020 but it is quite worrying. I started another project with the school board in Poitiers and we could not do it in the UK, so we chose Malta and Ireland instead.”

Gabby, 10, a Year 6 student at Wanborough said: “I like talking to people with different languages. It is nice to learn a little bit more about them.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to communicate, because you have to ask a teacher to know what the other person is saying.”

Harry, 11 added: “I like the programme because you can meet new people that have different languages and get to know what they are doing in a different country.” French student Théo said: “I learnt more about the British culture, like they eat more salty food for breakfast. My friends and I overcame the language barrier by asking words to each other. I would say that I improved my English level overall.”