A Crymych school made new friends as they welcomed a party of teachers and students from the Basque Country.

Ysgol Bro Preseli played host to 20 students and two teachers from a school called IES Mungia last week.

The exchange students spent a whole week at the school in Crymych and took part in a range of fun activities each evening such as making Welsh cakes with Cardigan major Sian Maeherlin and visiting Theatre Mwldan.

During the day, the students were involved in various educational lessons like GCSE Spanish workshops, learning about Welsh language and also did a drama lesson with one of the schoolteachers.

On Friday, the exchange program ended with a morning at Adventure Bay in Cardigan and an evening with fish and chips from Cardigan Arms before playing games at their accommodation.

Subject leader for Spanish, Gemma Connolly, said: "We are so proud at Ysgol Bro Preseli to have hosted a group of 20 exchange students from Mungia in The Basque Country.

“The joint learning experience has allowed us to come together to celebrate our culture, identity and language as Welsh and Basque.

"Throughout the week, the students involved were given a platform to learn from each other and build friendships for life.”

“As we implement the Curriculum for Wales, it is important we find every opportunity for our learners to become confident and informed citizens of Wales and the world.

“By the end of the week, the Basque students were able to introduce themselves in Welsh and our pupils were more aware of the political and linguistic situation in the Basque Country.”

The event was arranged through a platform called ‘British Council Schools Finder’ which matches schools with similar learning objectives and IES Mungia BHI staff used Ty Annie to find book accommodation in Y Clinc for their students.

Like the local government, who are trying to increase the number of Welsh speakers, the authority in the Basque Country want to promote their native language of Basque.

Ysgol Bro Preseli and IES Mungia BHI are both multilingual schools and this won’t be the last time pupils from the Welsh medium school will have the opportunity to learn about different cultures.

Mrs Connolly added: “A big thank you to everyone involved! We are now looking forward to planning our trip to Mungia and to developing our links with schools overseas in the years to come, to inspire our pupils and motivate language learning.”

Furthermore, everyone who travelled to Pembrokeshire from the Basque Country enjoyed their stay and are keen to return in the future.