A pupil from St George’s School for Girls in Edinburgh is heading for Beijing on a cultural trip after winning the intermediate section of a UK- wide Mandarin Chinese speaking competition run by the British Council and HSBC. Helen Rankin will join nine other youngsters on the visit at Easter. Balerno High, George Heriot’s School and George Watson’s College - all in Edinburgh - were the only other Scottish schools taking part. Paul Docherty, the British Council’s director in Scotland, appealed for more Scottish schools to develop links with China by using language assistants and funding available from the council. “I hope the success of these Scottish pupils inspires other schools to follow,” he added.
