Siddal Moor Class of 2019 honoured at Annual Awards Evening

Date published: 13 December 2019

Siddal Moor welcomed back former year 11 students to an awards ceremony on Thursday 28 November to formally recognise the successes of the year group.

Current year 11 students, Georgina Hall and Macie Gralton, entertained guests with vocal performances.

Head of School, Simon White spoke of the aspirations of the former year group and congratulated the prefect team who had worked above and beyond during their year in office as mentors to the younger students and ambassadors of the school.

He presented awards, accompanied by special guest Carol Baron, who after 29 years’ service at Siddal Moor retired from school life at the end of November.

42 awards were presented for attainment and endeavour in 21 subject areas and the class of 2019 also received their formal GCSE certificates issued by the exam boards.

Numerous memorial and special awards were then presented for varying aspects of school life including achievement, outstanding service as a prefect, work experience, outstanding progress, the Chair of Governor’s award, the Headteacher’s award and attendance.

Glynis Roberts attended to present the James Roberts memorial award for outstanding service as a prefect to Lee Holt who had been an integral member of the prefect team.

This award is presented each year in memory of her son, a former Siddal Moor student, who died in a skiing accident in 2005.

The Joe Grieve memorial award for ‘Determination to succeed in Technology’, was presented in memory of Joe, a teacher of technology at Siddal Moor who had given more than 40 years’ service to the school until his death in 2016. The award was presented by Joe’s granddaughter Hannah to award winner Thomas Newbon.

This year, a new award was presented in memory of John Frederick (Fred) Wright. Fred was a much-loved Governor of Siddal Moor for many years, who passed away in late 2018. A neighbour of the school, Fred’s passion came from his very firm belief that every child should have the opportunity to thrive; at home, at school and in the wider community.

The Fred Wright award for ‘Service to the Wider Community’ was presented to Jake Spanswick.

Head and Deputy Head boys and girls were also presented with a memento of their year in office.

Other award winners included Jake Stretton, Chloe Eccles, Brandon Clare, Leah Clare, Kelsey Pearson, Gabriella Capuano, Sophia Hoviedi, Georgie Fielding, Holly Hughes, T-Jay O’Brien, Brandon Harris, Mercedes Gotham, Jenna Fairbrother, Jan Paul Schlieman, Robert Wickes, Sehar Ahmed, Kayleigh Marshall and Ellie Putty.

The evening closed with former Head Boy and Deputy Head Girls, Robert Loeb, Madison Crux and Georgia Palmer handing over the responsibilities to the current Head Boy and Girl, Habib Oreagba and Olivia Thomas.

Memorial and Special Award Winners:

• The Jack Ashton Memorial Award – Ethan Hill
• The Malcolm Stephenson Award for Information Technology – Joshua Brooks
• The Paul Lowther Award for Achievement in Drama – Jade Chesters
• The Fred Wright Award for Service to the Wider Community – Jake Spanswick
• The Joe Grieve Memorial Award for Determination to Succeed in Technology – Thomas Newbon
• The Mavis Taylor Award for Humanities – Paul O’Driscoll
• The Joanne Bramall Award for Work Experience – Clayton Moores
• The James Roberts Award for Outstanding Service as a Prefect – Lee Holt
• The Triple ‘A’ Award for Attendance awarded for 100% attendance over five years at Siddal Moor Reece Conaghan, Madison Crux, Francessca Emmott, Ethan Hill, Wayne Howarth, Daniel Lomax, Lewis Naughton and Lauren Woods
• The Alte Volo Award for Outstanding Progress at Key Stage 4 – Ralph Fletcher
• The Chair Of Governors Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement – Millie Wilson
• The Headteacher’s Award for showing extraordinary resilience to achieve academic success – Paul O’Driscoll