CULLINGWORTH school students are heading for a land down under.

Elicia Marks and Megan Green, sixth form students at Parkside School, have been given the opportunity of a lifetime by being selected to spend three weeks in Australia.

Majella McColgan, Parkside’s Parental Involvement Worker, said the opportunity is part of the school’s exchange program with its partner school at Cleveland State High School in Brisbane.

She said: “They will be staying with families in the Gold Coast area. We can’t wait for them to come back and tell us all about it.

“One of the days will include a trip to Stradbroke Island, which includes a two-hour surf lesson at Cylinder Beach.”

Around 40 students from Cleveland State High School visited Parkside School in 2015 as part of a three-week European cultural tour.

Along with their teachers, they stayed at the homes of Parkside students and their parents.

By then the exchange programme was in its tenth year. The Australian students joined lessons at Parkside to experience the English curriculum, followed by a hotly-contested night of ten-pin bowling.