The Art & Design department at Dalziel High were delighted to celebrate Burns Day with a visit from the Secretary of State for Scotland, Mr Jim Murphy.

The reason for the visit was to award joint first prize to school captain Laura McCartney (S6) and Keir McCluskey (S5) in a competition centered around the work of Robert Burns.

The company "Robert Burns Gifts Ltd" had approached our Principal Teacher of Art & Design, Jennifer DiMambro with a brief for pupils to design a greeting card based on the poem "To A Mouse". Ideas based around the design brief were developed within the department but all competitors produced the finished pieces in their own time showing tremendous commitment and exceptional talent. Infact the level of entries were so high that an overall winner could not be selected, so joint winners were announced.

Laura's card design was based on the story behind the poem with a traditional illustrative approach and Keir's design cleverly united the contemporary influence of Pop Art with the traditional work of Burns.

Both cards will be put into production and sold across the country. Mr Jim Murphy engaged with pupils and staff whilst on a tour of the school and gave a speech about Burns Day to the senior pupils before awarded the certificates to the lucky winners.