We had an excellent Meeting of the SCEN Advisory Board on 13 May in the very comfortable surroundings of the Pollock Halls, the University of Edinburgh, with the generous support of the Confucius Institute for Scotland. Members much approved of SCEN Ambitions, summarised as To Boldly Go! You will be hearing more over the next months. One important decision was that SCEN will seek charitable status.

For the SCEN Network Meeting in the afternoon we again were privileged to have with us our President, Lord Wilson of Tillyorn. He spoke very eloquently to us and presented certificates to new SCEN Ambassadors. One was Wing-Sie Ng, an individual interpreter, who has been invited to be a delegate at the Discovery Trip to China for Eminent Young Overseas Chinese this year. It was also a delighted to see the eleven new SCEN Ambassadors from Lochend Community High School, Glasgow, smart and enthusiastic members of a Chinese Teaching Club. We had marvellous presentations: Colin Mitchell introduced Carys Ross, Rachel Dobbie and Hannah Darling, Ambassadors from Lasswade Community High School, and Lily Penman from The Edinburgh Academy read her prize-winning, very persuasive article: Why all Scottish students should have the opportunity to learn Chinese. Denise Caldwell, a very committed parent, was certainly persuaded: she spoke eloquently of her plans to introduce a pop-up Chinese school. It was good to hear from Tim Musson on the opportunities provided by ET Horizons: more about these initiatives soon, I hope.

It was good to hear news from Simon Macaulay, who leads the Learning of Chinese Programme in East Lothian and Midlothian. The East Lothian Celebration of Chinese, featuring this year's participants, will take place in a packed Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh on 9 June. Meyer Kalenderian, who manages the fantastic volunteering programme at the Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA) told us more about the commitment and talent of his large range of students who volunteer for his wide range of programmes, including the Mandarin Volunteering Programme. Senior pupils from Larbert High School and Bo'ness Academy, the Falkirk Hub, led by Maureen Bryce, inspired us with their accounts of the summer immersion course in China, and we heard from those taking up the huge opportunity of a Beijing Scholarship. Wang Yuchen, a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh, spoke superbly of her focus on Chinese Education Policy and Practice concerning the Inclusion of Disabled Students, and we heard from Judith McKerrecher on the great plans of CISS. Altogether it was a most encouraging day.