They experienced a whole new set of rules when they spent an eight-week term at a school in Queensland during a family holiday Down Under.

The Australian climate means that hats are a compulsory part of school uniform, with a "no hat, no play" policy strictly enforced.

Like their new classmates, Sophie (8) and Jenny (6) soon got used to the regulation as they settled in to Mount Mee State School in Queensland.

And the rule is in place for good reason – the rising number of skin cancer cases in Australia means that staying covered up and using sun protection is very much part of the daily routine.

The girls are just back from a 12-week family holiday with their Australian mum, Becky; sister, Katie (4), and brother, Thomas (2).

Taking the family to Australia in the autumn, when the weather wouldn't be too hot for them, meant removing the sisters from their classes at Keith Primary School, but rather than missing out on their education, they joined the three-teacher Mount Mee School, which has a roll of around 70.

Mrs Martin, of 'Inver-isla', Seafield Terrace, Keith, said that the children soon settled in and loved the new experience.

She said: "Because it is a small school, they integrated well, and they loved the accents. I suppose they learned what it was like for me as a child growing up.

"The pupils all take packed lunches, and the children have their lunch at 11am because it gets so hot later. The school building is on stilts, and they eat their snacks underneath the building to get the shade and the breeze.

"The weather was like what it is here in the summer, maybe a couple of degrees warmer. There were only two days when the girls had to wear jackets, and that was after a cyclone."

Sophie Martin (left) and sister Jenny sporting their Australian school uniforms, topped by the compulsory hat.

Sophie did her bit to promote Scottish tourism to pupils when she featured the country as a place to visit in a school travel expo.

And Mount Bee's uniform of red and bottle green meant that Sophie and Jenny's red fleeces, with the Keith Primary emblem, matched perfectly.

Sophie liked the well-equipped school playground, which had its own climbing frame, and enjoyed the opportunity to try lots of different sports.

She said: "The other pupils were nice, and I made new friends. The only thing I didn't like about Australia was the mosquitoes, as I was bitten lots of times."

Jenny liked going to school too, but her personal highlights of the trip were eating ice cream and visiting the beach.

Mrs Martin's husband, David, a director of Aberdeen-based oil tools firm Caledyne, was unable to join the family trip due to work commitments, and missed out on what was a fantastic family holiday, in the course of which Mrs Martin and the children managed to visit many relatives in the mountain and coastline areas around Brisbane in eastern Australia.

e.green@northern-scot.co.uk

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