A FORMER Bury Grammar School pupil, who is now a top investigative TV reporter, was confronted by hundreds of youngsters last week.

For Paul Kenyon, who attended the school between 1980 and 1984, was invited back as guest speaker at the annual prizegiving ceremony.

He is best known for his Kenyon Confronts, a BBC 1 prime time investigative programme which began a new series this week.

After leaving Bury Grammar School, he was a student at Trent Polytechnic. Later, he worked as a Parliamentary researcher before entering radio journalism in the late 1980s and graduating to television.

Mr Kenyon heard headmaster Mr Keith Richards tell the assembled audience: "One of the greatest strengths of the school, often emphasised to present and prospective parents, has been the stability of a dedicated and committed teaching staff and this stability has endured despite growing concerns nationally about both the recruitment and retention of members of the profession."

Commenting on the academic achievements of the pupils, he continued: "Results in public examinations are certainly not the only and probably not the best indicators of a school's success, but they are the most obvious and it is therefore pleasing to record our achievements in the summer of 2003.

"At GCSE , 93 per cent of all entries by fifth formers produced grades A* to C; the average points score per candidate, using eight for A*, seven for A, six for B and so on, was 60.7. Both English and mathematics had a 100 per cent pass rate.

"Our list of university destinations, like the A-level results, makes very pleasant reading and we can stress that we have seen here no evidence whatsoever of alleged prejudice by universities against independent school candidates."

Mr Richards went on: "Nearly all university departments simply want to enrol the best students that they can attract and Bury Grammar School candidates will continue to figure prominently in that category."