STEWARDS Academy celebrated the achievements of its pupils at their annual Presentation Evening.

Guest speaker Chris Pope, Co-Director of the Prince’s Teaching Institute, presented 128 pupils with awards in front of a hall of proud family members and school staff.

Chris spoke with eloquence to the young people with three key messages.

The first was ‘Yes, you can!’, stating that you should never say never and take every challenge that comes your way in life, even though sometimes the hurdles may initially seem insurmountable.

Secondly, ‘embrace diversity’, stating that we are all citizens of the world, recounting a personal recollection of a recent visit to Lebanon, which is slowly recovering from fifteen years of civil war, where ideologies clashed, and a nation was torn apart. He told the young people that we all need to learn to live together in harmony and celebrate diversity in all its forms.

His final message was that we all need to ‘keep listening, learning and, if necessary, changing’. Chris started his career in music, but since 2007 has worked with the PTI, a charity which supports teachers with their professional development. So, flexibility is the order of the day for young people in 2019, as life is an ongoing process of learning and adapting.

Nine ex-pupils returned to Stewards to receive prizes for last summers exam results, accumulating a total of 99 high level GCSE grades between them.

Head Boy Bradley Rimell was awarded the Governor Awards’ Academic Prize, and Deputy Head Girl Darcy Wylie was awarded the Life of the School Prize.

The Gordon Hewlett Prize for Citizenship was awarded to Head Girl Libby Morland-Banks, in the presence of his widow Bettina Hewlett.

The audience was treated to vocal and instrumental performances by Year 7-11 pupils Erin Baldry, Sonya Kemsley, Aimee Mayo, Adela Mikolayova, Mia Christie, Charlotte Easby, Fraser Mann, Bradley Rimell and a special mention for George Berry who was in three of the performances.

Headteacher Helen Ginger said she feels inspiration every day when she walks the school and interacts with the pupils and staff. She congratulated everybody for their achievements and the evening ended with a delicious buffet provided by the catering team for everybody present on the evening.