Congratulations to Ross Kerr (3H1) and Megan Smillie (4S1), both of whom have enjoyed recent success in Tae Kwon Do competition.

Ross collected a silver medal for team-sparring at the Scottish Open Tae Kwon Do Championships held at Ravenscraig Sports Facility.

Megan captured bronze at the tri-nation tournament held in Belfast. Megan overcame the hindrance of a debilitating ligament strain to play her part in the Junior Girls tournament.

Both Ross and Megan will return to competitive action later in the term.

Ross Kerr with his silver team-sparring bronze medal and Megan Smillie with her tri-nations bronze trophy.

The school’s Italian twins from the Sismondi and Pacinotti Instituto in Pescia, Tuscany have returned to Italy after yet another highly successful exchange visit to Scotland.

Teachers Cristina Brancoli and Gianca Pellegrineschi and 10 senior pupils spent a week visiting the school and touring central Scotland. In school, the Italians took part in cooking traditional Scottish dishes, learned country dances and attended classes with their Clyde Valley partners.

The Italians enjoyed a day trip to Edinburgh in glorious sunshine, visited Glasgow City Centre and toured the Trossachs by coach, taking time to enjoy a boat trip on Loch Katrine.

All of the schools involved took part in a language immersion day at Summerlee Museum. As always, one of the week’s highlights was the ceilidh held at Dalziel High School when all the dance practice paid off!

Strong friendships were forged during the busy week and all of the participants are now eagerly looking forward to the return trip to Tuscany in February 2014.

Our gallery of photos shows the Italian Teachers, Cristina Brancoli and Giancarlo Pellegrineschi with all of the senior pupils who took part in last week’s exchange programme. Take a look at all the fun that they got up to!