Chris and Rebecca (above) both aged 10, from Beech School Early Years, Junior and Infant School in Golcar have been leading the way in what's known as the Socrates- Comenius project which aims to give children and schools a much greater awareness of what their lives would be like if they lived elsewhere.

In November 2004, unable to speak a word of Spanish, Rebecca and Chris lived for a week with families in the town of Torreleguna just outside Madrid and went to school with the children of their host families.

Torreleguna's coat of arms

Although three staff members from Beech School also went to Spain for the first meeting of the partner schools, to some extent the children had to find their own way of coping with family and school life in a strange country.

Rosemary Taylor, assistant head teacher at Beech School who travelled to Spain with the two children, says: "The children had their lessons in Spanish. When we [the adults] arrived in Torreleguna the school had a music group to entertain the guests and Rebecca was in the music group playing the Indian bells and welcoming us with the theme tune from Titanic. Christopher was in a different class."

She says the purpose of the Spanish trip was "to open the European window so that we can learn about each other." Children and staff from Poland and Hungary also took part in the meeting in Spain as well as staff from Austria - the Austrian government wouldn't allow the children involved in the project to travel abroad because they were under 10 years of age.

She explains the aim of the project is "so we are more aware of the different countries and aspects of education in the different countries, what they provide and what we provide."

When they first arrived in Spain Chris and Rebecca did not find life in Spain all that easy. Chris says: "We felt a bit left out because of the language. We weren't really talking because they didn't understand us and we didn't really understand them." Despite this Chris managed to play chess and football with his host family.

Rebecca is glad she went but says: "I wouldn't do it again on my own."

Jenny Hume, head teacher at Beech School, comments: "We've learned a lot from their experience. When the children from the other countries come here we'll place them in pairs with families so at least they have somebody they can communicate with. We'll also make sure that every day they will meet up with the staff in the schools so they can talk with them. The project will improve as we learn from each visit."

Golcar as shown in the school's magic corridor

The scheme affects the whole school and there is even a magic corridor so pupils can share their work. Rosemary explains; "The project has set out the things we are going to do over the three years it will run, and we started off by studying the local area and this was put together in our magic corridor so it's a walk through Golcar. Some children studied the community garden - we are in a neighbourhood renewal area and our children are also helping create that garden. We studied the weaver's cottages and the transport around Golcar and, of course, the different churches we have...In the rest of this year we will broaden the project and study different aspects of our country. We'll be able to tell our friends from the four countries all about those areas we've been looking at. We'll be using emails between schools and also sending them our work by post."

But nothing can beat the experience of the visit. Rebecca and Chris have never been to London but the trip gave them the opportunity of a visit to Spain's capital, Madrid, and to discover new and strange food such as squid to which they said a polite, "no, thanks."

As Rosemary says: "It wasn't the holiday Spain. It was the real Spain...It can only enrich our experiences. It was brilliant!"

Meanwhile, Chris will be returning to Spain at Easter to stay with his Spanish friend. He says: "I'll be bringing him back here to see what he thinks about England."

We will be revisiting Beech School in March when its staff and pupils host the Socrates project here in the UK