The achievements of over one hundred Brooke Weston Academy students were celebrated at the Academy’s annual Prize Giving event.  The evening saw guest of honour, award-winning global adventurer, mental health advocate and inspirational speaker Ben Smith, address the audience and present prizes to our students.

Ben shared his inspirational story about growing up in an environment surrounded by bullies and how he suffered greatly with his self-esteem and confidence for many years. Discovering he was gay at the age of 13, he felt trapped and alone at that point in his life and later tried to take his own life because he saw no other way out. After suffering from a  Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) at 29 and weighing seventeen stone, Ben finally decided a change needed to be made.

In 2015-16, Ben set out to achieve something no one else in the world had ever done. He set his sights on running one marathon every day for 401 days across the UK. Covering 10,506 miles, he raised over £330,000 for two anti-bullying charities, Stonewall and Kidscape. The challenge gained national and global coverage, increasing the awareness of how harmful bullying can be at any age. Thanks to the 401 challenge, Ben founded the 401 Foundation to help local communities and individuals build their confidence, self-esteem and positively contribute to people’s mental wellbeing.

Ben’s story is one of triumph over adversity, bringing to life the importance of accepting and respecting others, no matter who they are.

The evening began with a piano piece beautifully played by Anotida Matika (Y11) before the audience watched a short film of the Brooke Weston 2024 Showcase highlighting a few of the many activities and achievements at the school. The new BWA Principal, Clare Haworth, offered a warm welcome to guests, followed by a welcome from the Chair of Governors, Jonathan Wintle.

Head Student Leader, Finley Robbins (Y13), led the student leader's speeches congratulating all the prize winners and spoke about how proud he was to be a student leader. Victoria Mann (Y13) also spoke about her role as Charity Leader.

Our Year 11 musicians treated the audience to some memorable performances during the musical interludes. Vheneka Chimutanda played the piano piece 'Je te laisserai des mots' by Patrick Watson, which translates to ‘I'll leave you some words’

Vocalist Meisha Tomlinson and pianist Anotida Matika, performed their interpretation of ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele. Both students are familiar with performing in front of an audience, as Meisha is the lead singer of a band called The Distraction, while Anotida is the musical director at his local church.

Summer Callachan performed an original composition she wrote called 'Mouvement dans l’immobilité' which translates to Movement in Stillness, telling the story of why she fell in love with the piano; as playing was one of the few things that helped her handle her stress during difficult times.

Awards were presented to students who had excelled in individual subject areas before three of our students, Toby Brooks (Y11), Frankie Lamont (Y11) and Sophia Cook (Y8) were awarded the Sport Colours Awards in recognition of their prowess in many sporting disciplines.

Outstanding Student Awards went to Ebubechukwu Udu (Y7), Chloe Billam (Y8), Ava Martin-Hall (Y9), Dylan Cully (Y10) and Theo Rust (Y12).

Lilly Cockburn (Y12) was the recipient of The Principal’s Award, with Dylan Chan (Y12) receiving the Outstanding GCSE Student Award. The Hugh de Capell Brooke Award was presented to joint winners, Year 13 students Marcus Ciobanu and Ellis Johnson, by Brooke Weston Trust CEO, Dr Andrew Campbell.

 

 

Thank you to all our sponsors and to everyone who attended, and a huge thanks to everyone who helped to make the night such a success. A special thank you to the Principal’s PA, Alison Ralph, who oversaw organising this memorable Prize Giving event.