Proud family members applauded as they witnessed the presentation of prizes to over 150 students, including not only subject awards, but also additional ‘special awards’ for progress in maths and science (generously sponsored by Orcina) and citizenship (sponsored by the Townlands Trust), engineering (sponsored by the Barrow & District Association of Engineers). There were also whole-school awards such as Dedication to the Performing Arts, Scouting, Poetry and Creativity in History (to name but a few).  Finally, the Headteacher’s Prize, which was this year, was awarded to Theo in yr10, who also picked up the Parliamentarian of the Year award.

The special guest, presenting all the prizes, was former student Mel Thompson, who is now a specialist cyber-security consultant with Deloittes in London and a member of their emergency response team. During her speech she gave sage advice to the prize-winners (and the audience) about taking advantage of all opportunities that come their way, both in and out of school, as well as remaining as flexible as possible in terms of planning life after school. She stressed that it does not matter if they do not have a clear career path mapped out, what is more important is that the students study not just what they are good at but, more importantly, what they enjoy.

After incidental music from the school’s celebrated Little Big Band UVHS headteacher Matthew Hardwick welcomed everybody to the evening and not only praised the effort and achievements of all the recipients, as well as the wider student body, but also introduced several presentations focusing on some of the highly successful activities and individual achievements outside the classroom over the last year, including the Newspaper Club, the Languages Department (reporting on last year’s trips to France, Germany and Spain) and finally, yr13 athlete Jess, who spoke about her experiences overcoming injury before representing England at the Junior Commonwealth Games in Trinidad & Tobago last month.

The evening was rounded off by a vote of thanks from Head Students Marianna and Jaden who also praised the award-winners as well as thanking the staff of UVHS for their ongoing dedication and commitment to the students at the school.