EXPERIENCE of education today and 150 years ago was on the agenda for students visiting Comet country from Germany. Twenty-five pupils from the Werner von Siemens Gymnasium in Bad Harzberg visited their exchange partners from Hitchin Girls and Hitchin Bo

EXPERIENCE of education today and 150 years ago was on the agenda for students visiting Comet country from Germany.

Twenty-five pupils from the Werner von Siemens Gymnasium in Bad Harzberg visited their exchange partners from Hitchin Girls' and Hitchin Boys' Schools.

As well as experiencing current British life, the 15-year-old visitors enjoyed a trip back in time with a visit to the British Schools Museum to learn how schooling used to be in Victorian times.

Teachers Herrn Rainer Arens and Wolfgang Evers, who were in charge of the group, said of the trip to the British Schools Museum: "We have all enjoyed today very much, especially the very strict, but enjoyable, Victorian classroom lesson."

As part of their trip back in time, the visitors were told how they can help celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Union Jack.

The museum is asking visitors to send a photograph of themselves or a friend, with a museum carrier bag and a flag in view.

The photos will join the exhibition, The Red Bits on the Map - How the Empire was used to teach geography, which opens in March.

Terry Ransome, a trustee of the museum, said: "We have already had photos from Los Angeles, Winnipeg and the Great Wall of China.

"Our friends from Germany can send entries from their home town. We want to see flags from all nations and regions - certainly not just Union Jacks."

British Schools carrier bags and information leaflets can be collected from the museum shop, which will be open from February.

Carrier bags can also be obtained by sending a large SAE to Me and a Flag, The British Schools Museum, 41 Queen Street, Hitchin, SG4 9TS.