We run a summer programme for Italian students who are with us throughout July, attending language training which we offer in the rooms of St John’s Cathedral.
The programme has been running for over 30 years in conjunction with the same independent school in southern Italy.
The students, lodged in families while with us, are accompanied by their Italian teachers who act in loco parentis, caring for students’ welfare.
Generally speaking the students start coming with us when they are 12 and generally return, sometimes consistently, until they are in their late teens and older.
Consequently we know many of the students before they arrive. Additionally, over the winter months while they are at home in Italy, we run regular, weekly Skype programmes training them in groups.
The summer programme is a serious one, taking the senior participants to the IELTS examination which they sit at the end of July.
It is those senior students who apply for voluntary work placements which they are able to attend on a morning basis (Mon-Fri incl. and occasionally on Saturdays).
It is also the responsibility of the students while on the July programme to undertake a project. Projects in the past have addressed a range of issues: preparing the Press Release (as adopted by The News) for Southsea Post Office when it moved last year; preparing, submitting and having copy published in local and regional publications; working on marketing initiatives. Perhaps the most ambitious project to date was submitted (.ppt presentations) to Portsmouth Council for development of the former Grosvenor Casino.
In short:
1: If one or more such voluntary work placements with one or more students being assigned to your operation would be of assistance
and/or
2: If a small group of students working voluntarily on a marketing plan for you would be of interest
please contact.