Kevin Sinfield at Queen Ethelburga’s in Thorpe Underwood near York

Kevin Sinfield OBE shared his incredible headline-hitting achievements with students, parents and staff at North Yorkshire independent school Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) just outside York at Thorpe Underwood, at the weekend, where he took to the stage as the keynote speaker for the 2023 Speech Day celebrations.

The previous weekend, Kevin carried Rob Burrow over the finish line at the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon after pushing his great friend and former Leeds Rhinos team-mate for 26.2 miles.

Kevin, gave Rob, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in late 2019, a kiss of affection after joining 12,500 other runners in Leeds’ first marathon in 20 years.

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The annual QE speech day celebrates the achievements, recognises the talents, and awards student excellence across the four schools of the Collegiate: Chapter House; King’s Magna; The Faculty; and The College.

Kevin shared with the QE community of over 2,500 students, family members and staff; his achievements from his debut at Wembley at age 11, raising the monumental £7.5million for motor neurone charity MND and most recently taking on the role of England’s Rugby Defence Coach. He inspired students with advice on how to be the best version of yourself and also how to be a champion at home, as well as at school or in your career.

Kevin Sinfield meeting pupils and staff at Queen Ethelburga’s in Escrick between York and Selby (Image: QE)

Kevin presented QE students with their awards, and he said: “It was great to be a part of the QE Speech Day, seeing and hearing about the achievements of the students and being a part of something which can inspire the next generation and the difference they can go out and make in the world.

"As I mentioned in my speeches on the day, to become a champion you have to be a champion at home first. My final piece of advice to them was no matter what the students go on to do after their time in education, cherish your friends too – and I really saw evidence of this at QE.”

Students took to the stage performing various pieces over two events in the day, and below is just a snapshot of some of the achievements from this year so far:

The BEBRAS competition saw nearly thirty QE students score in the top ten per cent in the country which allowed them to gain access to the elite Oxford University Computing Challenge.

Principal Daniel Machin, said: "QE is not a school where our students’ futures are dependent on our opinion of what they should achieve, it is a school where we take pride in our students’ ambition, and work alongside them to find as many opportunities as possible for them to achieve what they are aiming for."