The students met up with a group from Le Portalet Notre Dame school which is in the south of France.

They were tasked with a series of activities designed to develop their skills and encourage them to learn from native French speakers.

The group's first challenge was to solve treasure hunt clues - KSA students had to complete the activity in French and German - which took them around the colleges of the University of Cambridge.

After lunch, they visited the Fitzwilliam Museum where they had to answer questions about some of the paintings and teach the answers to their French and English counterparts.

The final task was to find a portrait they felt represented themselves and present the reasons why to the opposite group.

It will be followed up in school when KSA students who went on the trip will teach the rest of their class some of what they have learnt.

The trip was organised by French teacher Aine Egan and German teacher Victoria Maulin. Ms Egan said: "When we met up at the end of the treasure hunt, we discovered French and English students talking to one another and asking if they could swap addresses.

"The other wonderful thing to see were the effects of vertical tutoring - because we had students from different year groups, the older ones took the initiative to look after the younger ones in their form, without being prompted.

"The trip really helped them to see the value of learning another language and the benefits of being able to use it in a real-life situation."

Le Portalet is set to become KSA's partnership school should the Academy's application to the Comenius programme be successful. Comenius is an EU-funded exchange programme that centres on two-year active learning projects and study visits to France and Germany.

To form the basis of the application, KSA will work closely with both Le Portalet and a German school to put together a two-year plan on how the three schools will work together.

Ms Egan added: "The Comenius programme will open up opportunities in the wider world for our students."