PUPILS from a rural primary school are forging links with schools across Europe.

Students and teachers form Montalbo Primary School, Barnard Castle, recently returned from a cultural exchange visit to Hungary and are planning another to the Czech Republic.

In Hungary, year five pupils and their teachers visited Arany Janos Primary School, in Kisujszallas, near Budapest.

There they experienced life in a town where the main mode of transport is the horse and cart.

Teacher Marian Thomas said: "The children had a wonderful time. It was the first time they had been away from their families and they were really good.

"There were a lot of differences there but we were surprised by the size of the school, which had about 55 teachers and 900 children.

"We only have four teachers and 92 children, but the girls sang and performed for around 400 children in Hungary."

After singing the nursery rhyme Bobby Shafto Went To Sea, they were presented with Hungarian gifts which are now on display at the school.

In June, children from the school in Hungary and the Zakladni Skola Primary School, in Blansko, Czeck Republic, will be visiting Montalbo Primary School when it hosts a mini-Olympics event.