TWO foreign exchange pupils have spoken about their experiences after studying at Beaconhurst School as part of the Round Square International programme.

Hanna Essob, from Johannesburg, South Africa, spent a month attending Beaconhurst while living with a host family in Bridge of Allan.

Janav Singh, 14, travelled from India to study at Beaconhurst for six weeks and stayed with the school’s depute head Dawn Haughton and her family in Alva.

The teenagers were on an exchange programme and next year, two Beaconhurst pupils will have the chance to study at Hanna and Janav’s schools.

Hanna, 15, stayed with Beaconhurst’s Head of Biology Vanessa Tierney and her S5 daughter Ellie during her trip.

She said: “It’s been an amazing experience which has let me grow as an individual and try something completely new.

“I wanted to come to Scotland as I’ve been before and love it - particularly the fact you can walk everywhere.”

Hanna is a pupil at Roedean School in Johannesburg – an independent girls’ school.

She said: “It was interesting to come to a different type of school with Beaconhurst being much smaller.

“We have 900 pupils just in senior school compared to about 400 in total at Beaconhurst and it’s all girls - so it was a very different experience.

“I had the chance to play hockey which was fun and got involved with the Young Enterprise group.

“I did lots of activities with my host family at the weekends and visited various places including Aviemore which was stunning.

“I missed my family a bit but made many friends at Beaconhurst so it was fine and I will be keeping in touch with lots of them.”

Janav Singh attends Woodstock Boarding School in the Himalayas and stayed with Mrs Haughton and her S4 son Jack for six weeks.

He said: “I’ve loved it here – it’s the first time I’ve been to Scotland and it’s the prettiest place I’ve ever seen.

“The buildings and architecture are amazing and I visited so many places including St Andrews, Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle.

 “In lessons, I covered various subjects including Business, Physics, Chemistry, Spanish and Computing and found it harder than the work we do back home - particularly Maths which was really tough.”

Janav learned to play golf and enjoyed squash, canoeing on the River Forth and endurance running during his exchange.

He said: “I especially enjoyed doing Business Management which I’d never done before and would now like to consider as a career.

“I like the fact that Beaconhurst is a smaller school than mine, which has about 700 pupils, because you get to know people better and everyone has been welcoming and accepting.

“Round Square gives you an opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, meet new people and have an amazing time in a different country.”

Mrs Haughton, Beaconhurst’s Round Square Representative, said the exchange programme had been a success.

She said: “It’s been fabulous having Janav to stay and hearing about the differences between his school and Beaconhurst.

“And both pupils gave a fantastic assembly which had great feedback from pupils who learned a lot about their different cultures.”

Round Square International is a world-wide association of schools with 180 members across five continents.

It aims to equip schoolchildren for the future through six IDEALS of learning - Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service.