We recently welcomed to Liverpool and staff and students from our sister school Notre Dame Academy Hingham, Massachusetts, USA.  The group arrived at Liverpool Lime Street station after their flight from Boston to London.  The group stayed at hope University and spent the weekend visiting the main tourist attractions in the city centre with staff from St Julie’s. On Saturday morning we visited the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the International Slavery Museum and the Albert Dock.  In the afternoon the group took a trip on the Mersey Ferry and enjoyed the commentary giving lots of information about the history of Liverpool and Wirral and role of the river in developing trade and more recently tourism. Luckily for everyone the sun was shining and the wind hardly noticeable! After lunch at the Albert Dock the group then hopped on the open top bus and enjoyed a tour around Liverpool.  Cameras were in full use and our visitors were overwhelmed with the grandeur of some of our buildings and the different areas they saw.  Once back by the waterfront we witnessed the “duck” rescue at the Albert Dock.  Some retail therapy then followed in the Liverpool 1 area of the centre and the day was completed with dinner on the terrace.

On Monday the NDA staff and students spent the day in school and were welcomed to St Julie’s by our Y10 Head Prefects.  After the presentation the students were taken on a tour of the school and visited the dance studio to see “St Julie’s Jets” in action ahead of their first competition this weekend. Staff and students also visited lessons and enjoyed a variety of subjects across Y9, Y10 and Sixth Form.  Over lunch the girls continued to chat about our school and how amazing it is. The atmosphere generated between both sets of pupils was wonderful to see and many have already made contact via twitter and facebook so they can continue to chat and get to know each other more.

All of the students and staff were thrilled with their time in St Julie’s and loved our city! Below are a few quotes written by the NDA students during their visit to St Julie’s;

St Julie’s was such a beautiful school with super friendly students and staff. Carly T

I loved meeting all of the students and staff. Everyone was so friendly and the campus was beautiful. I loved getting a tour and seeing the classrooms. Maggie B

Seeing the similarities between the two teenage cultures surprised me in a good way and made us feel more welcome into the St Julie’s community. Hillary

I loved visiting St Julie’s! Everyone was so nice and welcoming! Seeing the similarities and differences was very cool! Maggie L

Our visit to St Julie’s was an amazing experience! It was interesting that the girls were as interested in us and our culture as we were in theirs! Tiffany

My tour guides were so great and the classes were wonderful! Lindsey M

I loved watching the dance and cheerleading performance, all of the girls were so amazing. Everyone was so nice and extremely friendly. I was so sad to leave and really want to come back soon. Cece

I really enjoyed attending the German class. I take French for a language so it was interesting seeing the similarities and comparing the two languages. Lawson

I liked how involved everyone got. “Can you say beef-jerkey?” Maddie

I thought it was funny how interested everyone was in us. I’m not used to being the one getting asked all the questions. Chloe

The girls were so welcoming and made us feel like celebrities. It was such an amazing experience to be able to meet students of our sister school and compare all the similarities, despite the distance between our schools. Casey

I loved how kind and receptive everyone was. They were all so welcoming I felt I had been there all year, not just a few hours. It was a great experience, one I would love to have again. Kelli

I like how well they treated all of us; we made some very funny friends! Hannah

It was truly an experience of a lifetime all the girls were so welcoming and I felt so loved! Within 3 short hours I made a lifelong friend! Allison M

I really loved the school and how friendly and nice all of the girls were. Our tour guide and the girls we shadowed were really kind as well. Monica