Mount Carmel celebrated the achievements of students during their annual Key Stage 4 Awards Evening with guest speaker Jenna Downing, World Champion Inline Skater.
The evening began with performances from the school choir of the John Lennon song ‘Imagine’ featuring pupil soloists Emily McNaught and Lewis Wilkinson and the Lily Allen song ‘Somewhere only we know’ featuring Shannon Singleton and Katie Lowe. The performances were directed by music teacher Asha Javaid.
Headteacher Xavier Bowers praised the students for their results during the Summer examinations with many individual exceptional performances and in particular those students who achieved Grade 9 in English and Maths. He encouraged the current Year 11 pupils to commit to their studies and aim to achieve beyond their personal targets. He reminded them that school is also about building friendships, trust and compassion so they can do their upmost to make the World a better place.
He thanked parents for their support and teaching staff at the school for their dedication and professionalism. Mr Bowers also thanked Governors of the school and support staff for the work they do to ensure the school runs efficiently and smoothly. He acknowledged the support of our Parish Priests, partner primary schools and Further Education College who work together to ensure a distinctive Catholic ethos education is provided.
Current Year 11 pupils were presented with Subject and Role Model Awards from Jenna Downing. Role models are selected for qualities such as politeness, punctuality, helpfulness, organisation and dedication. Subject awards are presented to pupils who have a good attitude to learning as well as for attainment and achievement. Award winners were Tyler Wright, Sebastian Taylor-Dearden, Joao Moreira, Harry Sutton, Kia Wick and Farhan Naqui. Subject awards recognise the effort and improvement in each subject area.
The invited guests, staff, students and families then celebrated the successes of former students in their recent GCSE examinations with special trophies being awarded for outstanding effort and achievement. Joe Allen and Hannah O’Boyle were jointly presented with the Headteacher’s Award for services to Mount Carmel as Head Boy and Head Girl 2017/18.
Memorial awards were presented in the memory of loved ones who worked at or were associated with Mount Carmel. The Nicola Hughes Trophy for dedication to language studies was presented to Bartek Wojda and was presented by Nicola’s daughter, Mia, and Nicola’s mother, Christine Hughes.
The Ken Hargreaves Memorial Trophy was presented to Sidra Nasar for outstanding achievement in Science and The Fred Bentley award was presented to Qayanaat Aya for achievement in Geography.
Special awards included the PTA Trophy for the best GCSE results, presented to Sidra Nasar. The Mount Carmel Trophy presented to Joe Allen, Daanish Khan and Joseph Radigan. The HRVSSA Leukemia Trust Award for the highest sporting achiever in the Hyndburn & Ribble Valley area was presented to Keely Battrick. Antonio Lo-Giudice received the Mount Carmel trophy for 100% attendance over 5 years with a special certificate from Lancashire Council acknowledging this brilliant attendance. The Good Citizen Award for outstanding service to the school and its local community was presented to Joshua Pickles.
Acknowledgements were made to current students who excel in their relevant sports at County level or beyond. Sports include Kick Boxing, football and dance with Keely Battrick, Lenni Cirino, Rio Hesmondhalgh and Kia Wick being awarded honours.
Guest speaker Jenna Downing addressed the audience explaining how dedication, commitment and hard work bring about achievement in all aspects of life.
The ‘Dean Desmond Award’ was presented to Mr John Clarke for his long and outstanding service as a teacher at Mount Carmel. Mr Bowers commented on John’s dedication and professionalism and how he was fondly missed by many of the staff at the school.
Head Boy Harry Sutton and Head Girl Demi Harris gave a vote of thanks to the guests and Chair of Governors, Mr David Rushton presented closing remarks before a film was shown featuring highlights of the students time at Mount Carmel with images comparing how they changed from Year 7 to Year 11.