SIX year 12 students from Canberra Grammar School have all won a competitive international scholarship, taking them to China next year to study at university.

Each of the students was awarded a Confucius Institute Scholarship, based on their outstanding Chinese proficiency test results and performance in a Chinese Bridge Competition and Chinese Language Star Chinese Writing Competition last year.

The scholarship is offered worldwide to students and teachers who are studying or teaching Chinese as a second language.

Head of Canberra Grammar Dr Justin Garrick says the scholarships are usually given to existing university students and that this is the first time the institute has “secured a scholarship” for high school students.

“To have six students from one school simultaneously win such competitive scholarships to study at top universities in China is absolutely extraordinary and an enormous credit to our teaching staff,” he said.

“We are thrilled for the boys and are sure they will have an incredible experience in China”.

The boys are all non-native Chinese speakers and have only been studying the language for four years.

They will study at various universities in China to increase their knowledge of the Chinese language, while being “immersed in local culture”.

Scholarship winner Christopher Parr calls the opportunity “life changing”.

“For me receiving the Confucius Scholarship is a life changing opportunity and something that I know will shape my future in both a personal and career based way,” he said.

The scholarship winners are:

• Harrison Barnett – to study at Shanghai University
• Jeremy Ellingham – to study at Peking University
• Kevin Kelly – to study at Shanghai Fudan University
• Sheehan Lim – to study at Peking University
• Christopher Parr – to study at Beijing Jiaotong University
• Eoin White – to study at Beijing Language and Culture University