It’s five o’clock on a wet Friday night in Britanny. We’ve been travelling by coach and ferry since before dawn and now our students are to meet their partner d’exchange. Clustered in the school entrance, they move forward shyly as names are called, and are then whisked off to strange homes, people, food and customs. The exchange has begun.

By next morning when we meet in La College de Sable Blancs most are full of their partners’ kindness and the welcome they’ve received. One is obviously homesick and for another the stress has brought on a migraine. But already they have tried new foods - Concarneau is famous for its shellfish - and discovered they can converse in a mixture of English and French. While this group is discovering Britanny, another is in Hanover tasting life in a major German city and practising the language learned in the classroom. “Meeting the people, learning the language” is the main theme of our annual exchanges with the French and German partner schools. But the connection goes deeper. By staying with families, students get insight to life in a European country and by having their partner back learn something about valuing their own home.

For some couples, the friendship barely survives the return visit; for others it can mature into long-lasting contact. The same goes for teachers. Connections with staff in both schools have led to house exchanges and visits en route to somewhere else.

There’s a lot to be learned, too, from spending time in the school. We are currently considering the “conseil de la classe” scheme I observed in Britanny, where all the teachers of a class share their views on the class’s progress with each other and with representatives of students and parents.

The exchange approach to experience abroad has the advantage that students must get involved with the local culture, whereas on the ordinary school holiday they can avoid even speaking the language. Exchange is also much cheaper.

How cheap it is will depend on the cost of travel to the partner school and any excursions taken during the stay. Accommodation is free on the basis that it is reciprocated on the return visit .

Continental exchanges are well established but many schools travel further afield, including the United States, Canada and Australia. Eastern Europe is rapidly developing as the fashionable venue. Many primary schools are also beginning to emulate what, until recently, has been a secondary school trend.

Planning is essential to the success of an exchange. If starting a new one, someone should visit the partner school and discuss the possibilities for learn- learning that are offered by the area. European teachers’ views of what will interest children do not always coincide with ours, as I discovered when our ultra polite students were all treated to a whole hour’s detailed lecture on Gaugin - in French - before they were shown a single picture.

At planning stage there should be agreement about who’s paying for what. Does the host school, for instance, arrange and pay for all the activities of the visitors or should each school pay all its own expenses?

Where possible, the matching of partners should be done collaboratively. Details of all the participants, including photographs, should be shared and every attempt made to match similar types. In Britanny, putting one of our most outgoing girls with one of their most timid could have been disastrous without the help of their friends.

Information for parents about what to provide and what to expect when the partners visit them will avoid some of the difficulties. What it won’t necessarily get over is the problem of the faddy eater or the silent guest. But these are not just problems of foreign visitors and most parents will cope.

They should be warned, though, about frequent use of the phone. Visiting students need to keep in touch with home and with their friends on the visit and this can boost telephone bills significantly. We encourage all our students to use public phones to avoid this.

Wherever practical, students should spend some time in classes in the host school. Ours are always fascinated by the apparent super-strictness of French schools and the distant relationships between staff and students. It also gives an edge to their language learning.

In the end, though, this kind of exchange is more about social development, giving children a chance to grow by living through a new experience. Which is why successful exchanges don’t have to be in European or other places abroad. For children brought up in isolated Devon countryside, for example, a few days in a northern industrial city or one of sprawling estates outside can seem as foreign as France or Germany, even if the language is roughly the same.

Many children still know little about other areas and the exchange with another school in Britain can be a cheap and effective way of combating insularity.

One thing is certain, wherever the exchange those children who, a few days before, were strangers approaching each other very warily will, when it’s time to depart, be crying and kissing and longing for the return visit of their partners.

Mike Fielding is principal of the Community College, Chulmleigh, North Devon.