On 15th December, we held an awards evening to celebrate the achievement of the Year 13 students who left EMS6 in the summer. Not all of the students could make it back to collect their awards, however, many of them didn’t allow bad weather or train strikes stop them from attending. Other awards were collected by parents on their behalf.
We were privileged to have former student Sian Harrison join us for the evening. Sian Harrison is a journalist and author who lives in London, but will always call Hartlepool home. She has spent most of her career reporting on courts and is the Law Editor for the Press Association, the national news agency for the UK and Ireland. She is also co-author of McNae's Essential Law for Journalists, affectionately known in the industry as "the journalists' bible".
Sian addressed the students, speaking affectionately about her time at EMS and the community she has always felt a part of. She encouraged them to work hard and enforced that the virtues we encourage in school will stand them in good stead.
After the address, we moved into the presentation of the awards. Awards were given for a range of academic and cultural achievements including excelling within individual subjects, enhancing the school community, attendance and recognising the many individual successes.
The presence of many former colleagues and special guests presenting awards made the evening a special occasion to be remembered for time to come.