AN EVENING to celebrate excellence at Richmond School and Sixth Form College was hosted by Baroness Angela Harris.

Headboy and headgirl, Saul Tuite and Alana Hodgson, welcomed students, parents, carers, staff and local dignitaries and introduced Baroness Harris, who treated the capacity audience to a thought-provoking and inspiring address to motivate the students in their future studies.

Baroness Harris urged the students to make the best of every opportunity that comes their way, and said throughout their lives doors will open and doors will close, but when the opportunities come along, not to hesitate and go for it.

Baroness Harris started her career as an air stewardess before she became a member of North Yorkshire County Council, going on to serve as chair of the North Yorkshire Police Authority. A former Richmond town and district councillor, mayor, president of the National Association of Chaplains to the police and Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Harris is a Liberal Democrat Life Peer, taking the title Baroness Harris of Richmond. She has also previously acted as chair of the Industry and Parliament Trust.

Subject awards were presented for every year group, including an overall cup winner for each subject, in addition to a number of special awards. The Headteacher's Cup was awarded to Brandon Sutherland-Parker who impressed Jenna Potter with his outstanding drive and passion for dance. Brandon has carried out countless extra-curricular and community events; from delivering dance workshops in local primary schools and within KS3 lessons, to establishing his own dance company Evolution, and directing a number of performances and projects.

Mrs Potter said: "Brandon has genuinely had a huge impact on the culture of the dance department as a whole and has helped to create a collaborative and caring community, not only by inspiring and challenging countless younger students but also through the relationships he has built with staff. It is wonderful that he is taking up his unconditional BA Hons Dance Studies offer at Middlesex University."

James Longstaff and Rosie Collier-Gent were rewarded with the Examination Excellence Awards for GCSE and A-level respectively. James achieved a full suite of ten Grade 9s at GCSE, with Rosie achieving three A*s at A-level as well as an A* in her Extended Project Qualification. In addition, James was presented with the subject awards for English and mathematics. James is now studying chemistry, maths, further maths and physics A-levels at Richmond Sixth Form. Rosie was also awarded the cups for English and media, and modern foreign languages, and will shortly be starting a degree in English literature and English language at Oxford University.

Entertainment came from Sophie Montgomery, who performed Mozart's Non So Piu from The Marriage of Figaro. She scored an A* score of 103/105 in the performance component of her recent A-level music exam.

Mrs Potter said: "It is an immense pleasure to see the students being rewarded for their hard work."