Yorkshire secondary school gains record passes

THE OUTSTANDING GCSE results of St Mary's in Menston, west Yorkshire, were celebrated at last week's annual GCSE presentation evening.
This year the school recorded its best-ever GCSE results with 89 per cent of students gaining five or more GCSE passes at grade A* to C, and over 70 per cent of students gaining at least one A*/A grade. In addition to the presentation of GCSE certificates, Dean Johnstone, a representative from the "Diana Award", presented special subject prizes to individual students. St Mary's students have been recognised by the Diana Award, formally known as the Princess of Wales Award, for a number of years.
Headteacher Michael Pyle was presented with a "gold award" for schools, "that have shown exceptional and ongoing commitment to recognising pupils' achievements". Speaking on the evening, Mr Pyle thanked staff, students, parents, governors and community representatives for their very positive contribution to the outstanding aspects of the school noted in the recent Ofsted report.
Individual prize winners were: Giordana Devito, Megan Greenwood, Thomas McNulty, Robert Ward, Sian Dempsey, Rachel AddisonChild, Alex Jewell, Ben Huggon, Zac Wood, Thomas Loughlin, James Higgins, Greg Weir, Jade Pullan, Duncan Fraser, Rachel Firbank, Oliver Thompson, Rachel Darlow, Lauren DiPietro, Sarah Shaw and Rosie Davies.
The chairman of governors. Bob Lavey. presented awards to Michael Taylor, Robert Ward, Jade Pullan, Frances Cunningham and Annie Layfield.
The Governors' Award for Achievement this year went to Aiden White who gained commendable GCSE results despite spending considerable time pursuing his football career.
Music on the evening was provided by Duncan Fraser who performed several of his own compositions on piano and lower sixth band Next Generation performed a rousing version of "Electric Lady".