Pistoia Exchange

Our Lady’s High School is linked with Instituto Forti in Monsummano in the province of Pistoia in Italy. A group of ten S4 and S5 pupils and Foreign Languages Principal teacher, Mrs. Mary McKeown joined the other four North Lanarkshire schools on the annual exchange, flying to Pisa on 7th February.

We were treated to wonderful Italian hospitality from our partner families, as well as spending two days in our partner school, learning a little of how the Italian education system works – not sure if we would like to go to school every Saturday from 8.30 am to 1.30pm!

We still had time to visit the renowned Grotta Giusti spa and the village of Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo and its museums with models of his many extraordinary designs.

The major of Monsummano Giuliano Calvetti hosted a reception to welcome us in the town hall and presented us with books from the area as well as gifts for all of us.

 

A highlight for many was the day trip to Viareggio and the famous Carnevale with its marvellous floats and costumes. We entered into the spirit with our Scottish flags, which made us immediately recognisable and were well received of course.

We also travelled to nearby Florence and some of our Italian school partners acted as guides on our tour of the historic centre. All too soon we had to head for home, but we look forward to welcoming our Italian friends to Our Lady’s High School in September.