The project results from previous contact between members of the two institutions. During this contact the differences between the way that French and English schools value and aim to develop students' independent thinking skills was discussed. The Gallic emphasis on the dissemination of knowledge from expert to learner in the classroom to build a strong but predetermined knowledge base was compared to the focus in English speaking schools to develop students as independent thinkers and learners. The Lycee works at the intersection of these two pedagogical approaches as its students are accustomed to the Gallic style in their time spent in the French state system but are then encouraged to focus more on independent thinking skills in their lessons in English. The objectives of the exchange project proposed is to share teaching and learning strategies that might bring together the confident knowledge base developed by the highly conscientious Lycee students with the more interactive approach to learning that is developed through the use of thinking skills 'tools' and strategies to develop independent learners that aim to prioritise skills over knowledge at Invicta. Two staff from Invicta will travel to the Lycee to shadow two members of staff. A different two members of staff from Invicta will then be shadowed by two different members of the Lycee on a return visit. The eight participants will then divide into their home groups to consider how what they've learned can be implemented in their home school. Finally the group will meet all together for one last time, as a video conference, to discuss their new strategies. The different existing strengths and skills of the two systems will be examined through the prism of the students' oral work and the ways in which the two institutions develop their skills in this work. Staff from Invicta will look at how oral skills are taught for a formative assessment as part of the ibac at the Lycee. Staff from the Lycee will look at how oral skills are used according to the tools of the 'thinking schools' to develop independent thinkers through the formative stages of assessment at Invicta. The different skills used by the teachers at the two institutions will be shared through shadowing during exchange visits and will then be developed into new systems of practical classroom strategies at the two different institutions during their own CPD sessions. The strategies and systems developed through these sessions will then be discussed in the final meeting between participants.