RECORD-breaking high performers at a North Yorkshire school were invited back to be recognised for their achievements.
The group who took their A levels this summer contributed to the best results ever at Ripon Grammar School, headmaster Martin Pearman told guests at the school’s annual speech day.
The results took the grammar to the top of all state schools in Yorkshire, with 79.4 per cent of all A levels being A*, A or B grade.
The students took pride of place in front of an audience that included the Mayor and Mayoress of Ripon, the Mayor of Harrogate, county and district councilors, governors, parents, staff and guest speaker Mark Damazer CBE, former controller of BBC Radio 4 and now Master of St Peter’s College, Oxford University.
Chairman of governors at the Grammar School Dr Peter Mason said: “This has been another excellent year with much to celebrate.
“With eagerness in learning and inspiration in teaching comes the panoply of opportunities. The huge range of courses and prestigious employment gained by last year’s leavers confirms that Ripon Grammar School is a place of opportunity.”
Students have gone on to study at top universities, with nine gaining places at Oxford and Cambridge, and two are studying in Masstricht and the USA.
Next year is set to bring additional facilities at the school with work starting at Easter on a new humanities building with dedicated classrooms for history, religious studies and modern foreign languages.
The work, which should be completed by next November, will also see an upgraded entrance to the school off Clotherholme Road.
Future plans include an extension to the girls’ boarding house ready for September 2015, for which North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed funding.
Addressing the students, Mr Damazer said: “There are things more important than being clever, but being clever is not a bad start.
“More or less nothing beats the love of knowledge and it doesn’t matter if that knowledge is not immediately useful. Knowledge does not have to be useful to be fun; it’s worth chasing for its own sake.”
In warning them that it was always possible to bounce back from failure, he added: “There is no problem with good fortune; do not apologise for it. But some people do not have the luck of coming to a school like this, or being blessed with your brains.
“So be clever, find out about things, never never give up being intellectually curious, don’t worry if your pursuit of knowledge doesn’t immediately, or ever, make you wealthier, don’t panic when you make a mistake or fall over and never underestimate the value of kindness.
