On Tuesday 28th June at the Orchard Theatre, we celebrated 9 exceptional young people and one inspirational leader from our school community at the Jack Petchey Awards Celebration Event.

Each award comes with a certificate, a badge and on the night the winners also collect a medallion presented by the Mayor of London Borough of Bexley. The winners also receive from £250-300 to be spent on their communities. Our winners have chosen to spend their money on football kits, library books, cricket stumps, paint brushes for art, (along with other specialist art equipment) and a basketball holder, along with various basketballs for the extra-curricular club and for use in PE lessons.

Following meeting the Mayor, the reasons why each individual student won their award was read out and photographs were taken whilst the students sat on the stage.

To top this event off, we were the first school on the night to have a 'Leaders Award' winner. This was won by Miss Lacey Tebbutt, after a poll was created and made accessible to all young people in our school community.

Votes were collated and Miss Tebbutt was our overall winner for being an inspiring leader among our school staff. Miss Tebbutt has chosen to spend her £1000 prize on inviting a drugs and knife crime expert into school to talk to all students in the next academic year about the dangers of both and how to spot early signs of grooming by gangs and substance abuse.

Our award winners were:

• Buddy Mahoney-Kerr
• Billie Bell
• Hayden Player
• Zenon Dymond
• Alfred Nwonye
• Georgie Mardlin
• Paige Gibbs
• Linor Bytyci
• Ellie Constantinou

The celebration evening was a fantastic spectacle to showcase all of the positive things young people bring to their communities. The Jack Petchey Awards scheme has been an unbelievable experience to run as the coordinator this year. It is an invaluable resource that is a fantastic asset to our school and community.

If you would like to learn more about the Jack Petchey Foundation click here.

Yours sincerely,

Mr T Mackenzie
Jack Petchey Coordinator