STUDENTS were rewarded for a school’s ‘best ever year’ at an awards evening in Colne.

Pupils from Marsden Heights Community College, in Brierfield, were handed prizes for their performances in subjects and for a host of other achievements.

And they were also praised for their performance in end-of-the-year exams.

The school’s 1,050 students are due to move to a new purpose-built, multi-million pound campus in Easter 2010 as part of Lancashire County Council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Headteacher Mike Tull told the event at Colne’s Municipal Hall: “This year we are celebrating our best ever results with 55 per cent of our students achieving five GCSEs at grades A* to C, which is a significant improvement on last year.”

The evening also featured a talk by Lancashire County Council principal adviser Wayne Marland, who praised the school’s exam results.

Meanwhile, students at the event provided the entertainment for staff, parents and school governors. Pupils from years eight and nine performed a scene from Romeo and Juliet, while the choir sang You Gotta Be by Des’ree.

And members of the cast of the school’s production of Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat also performed a song.

AWARD WINNERS
Year 11 Students (Leavers): English, Jordon Naylor; drama. Alex Stobbs; media, Umea ZaharaTariq; maths, Nabila Shafiq; science, Zahid Khan; Design tech, Chris Callaghan; food & textiles, Tayyiba Akhta; ICT, Lee Parry; business studies, Victoria Hoggarth; health and social care, Lzbha Arif; art, Laura Wood; history’ Duncan Allan; geography, Tayyaba Sanam; RE, Mohammad Amin Ahmad; PE, Natalie Mitchell & Nabila Shafiq; music, Ben Chaffer; French, Nabila Shafiq; Spanish, Joe Holding; engineering N & CC, Terry Hardy; engineering Training 2000, Luke Moore; construction GCSE, Chris Callagham; construction BTEC, Danny Aspinall; Uniform Services, Lindsay Metcalfe; beauty therapy, Jennifer Dickinson; catering, Anthony Davidson. Overall House Student: Weets student, Alice Holden; Boulsworth student, Denise Goncalves; Pendle student, Rebecca Holden; Blacko student, Heather Callagham. Student of the Year Awards: Year 10 Robert Demeter, Year 11 Asmah Waheed. Faculty Awards: Communication Trophy, Xavier Bruggen; Discovery, Trophy Nabila Shafiq; Exploration Trophy, Asma Waheed; Expression Trophy, Natalie Mitchell; Realisation Trophy, Nida Bhatti. Student of the year awards: Turning Point, Sara Dickinson; Training 2000, Jamie Oddle; PE outstanding achievement, Daneyal Qasim; The Croft Award for Enterprise, Anthony Davidson; The Katy Douglas Memorial Award, Jennifer Dickinson; The Ahmed Award, Asmah Waheed; Attendance Award, Nicole Stitt; Outstanding contribution to the learning community of Marsden Heights, Rameesha Shah; The Headteacher’s Award, Nablla Shafiq.