STUDENTS at a York school came together for a special evening to celebrate their dedication and hard work over the past year.

Outstanding achievements in exams during the past academic year were recognised at the ceremony staged by Huntington School along with pupils’ sporting successes while house awards were also presented for respect, honesty and kindness.

Chair of the governing body May Kaye and head teacher John Tomsett welcomed the pupils and their guests, congratulating them on their efforts while Charlotte Hyman was the guest speaker at the event, held at York Barbican.

In the roll-call of honours, awards for outstanding achievement at A level went to Emma Alexander, Jennifer Anderson, Christopher Barrett, Luke Charters-Reid, Lydia Kim, James Knighton, Catherine Lyth and Benjamin Rawlins.

Awards for outstanding achievement at GCSE went to Emily Green, Joshua Beck, Jack Cameron, Thomas Jakeman, Eleanor Jakeman, Beth Jakeman, Victoria Kleanthous, Joseph Pollard and Daniel Walker.

Among the sporting successes was Jade Crosby who won the Sports Leader of the Year Award while The Ryedale Trophy for Extraordinary Achievement in Out of School Sport went to Alistair Bevan.

Other prize winners included Genna Suddes who was the North Yorkshire games modern pentathlon winner; Carrie Suddes was the English Schools Biathlon Under 15s winner; Alice Linaker and Joshua Schofield won the North Yorkshire schools athletics national finalists award, and Becky Gray represented the Team of the Year – the girls’ rugby Years 10 and 11.

Awards for Outstanding Overall Progress in Year 9 went to Matthew Hobson, George Jackson, Jack Gallagher, William Greenwood, George Barwick, Leon Cowling, Natasha Holmes, Kirsty Simpson and Daniel Stables.

As part of the occasion, there was a drama presentation of The Wrong Order and a performance from the 114-strong choir, The Barbican Voices.

Mr Tomsett said: “We really enjoyed celebrating the last year’s achievements of our students. We emphasise the benefits of working hard, something we call choosing to have a Growth Mindset.”