The evening of Thursday 15th December saw the celebration of our 2016 Year 11 cohort’s achievements. Joined by Dr Janet Lord, Peter Lowe and the majority of the cohort and their parents, the evening was a joy to be part of and reflect upon the fantastic results that the year group received.
During the course of the evening, all students were cheered and “whooped” as they received their examination certificates before pastoral and academic awards were given out to recognise individual engagement, effort and achievement. The winners of these awards were:
Following a fantastic key note speech by Peter Lowe about the mindset required for excellence and high performance, four special awards were also celebrated on the evening. These were the inaugural “Guy Wharton Award for Endeavour”, the “Wendy Pennington Prize for English”, our “Headteacher’s Award” and, for the first time of awarding to a Year 11 student, the “Wilf Renshaw Award for Technology”.
The “Guy Wharton Award for Endeavour”, named in the memory of Mr Guy Wharton who tragically passed away during the course of this cohorts examinations and was both a Teacher and Form Tutor to them, was awarded to Diego Fryer whose efforts to overcome adversity in his life led to him achieving a raft of B grades and an A grade in History. His endeavour is something that Mr Wharton both embodied himself and would have celebrated with Diego had he been here to do so.
Dr Janet Lord joined us to award the “Wendy Pennington Prize for English”, names after her mother who sadly passed away during the past year and had enjoyed working at Tytherington School as our Head of English for many years. The Wendy Pennington Prize was awarded to Will Chester who, having become disillusioned with the subject, he found a new lease of life through connecting his interests with his writing and began to always search for feedback on his work from staff. Through this passion and determination he achieved a C grade in English, against all expectations.
For the first time ever, and after much deliberation, the “Wilf Renshaw Award for Technology” was awarded to a Year 11 student and not a former member of our Year 13. Alex Walker received the award owing to his “professionalism” and “keen eye for detail and high personal standards in the quality of his practical work that culminated in his final masterpiece – a mechanical toy in the form of a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette. It was so well finished it could have come straight from the shop window of Hamley’s” (Mr Taylor, 2016). This was a fantastic achievement for Alex, and it is great to see him progressing so well in A-Level Product Design in our 6th Form.
Our “Headteacher’s Award” was given to Lili Holland-Fricke, who throughout her time in Years 7-11 had taken advantage of every aspect of comprehensive school life. Frequently seen supporting school productions and performing individually at concerts, Lili worked hard in every area of her life. Not only progressing through school and achieving a clean sweep of 10 A*s in her GCSEs, she progressed through her Cello gradings to Grade 8, working with Chris Hoyle at the Royal Northern College of Music, while playing the Bass guitar expertly for fun with the Jazz Band. Lili is a fantastic role model and achieved national recognition by winning a place on a prestigious masterclass with cellist Hannah Roberts who is the winner of the Jacqueline Du Pre Memorial and Pierre Fournier Awards, and now possesses our Headteacher’s Award for 2016.
We would like to thank all that attended our awards evening and look forward to the future achievements of our students in the “Class of 2016”!