‘Exceptional’ pupils named winners at United Learning’s awards

Students across Cambridge are celebrating picking up prizes at United Learning’s Best in Everyone Awards 2022.

The national awards honour individuals, teams and departments across the academy group for the exceptional contributions they have made to school and community life.

This includes recognition for standout academic successes, sporting and musical achievements, and commitment to leadership and service.

In Cambridge, winners were chosen from Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology (CAST), Coleridge Community College and Parkside Community College.

Joe Middleton, a Year 11 student at CAST, won the geography award in his age range and Hugo McGurk, a Year 9 student at Parkside Community College, was crowned Pupil of the Year in his age range.

Coleridge Music Ambassadors, a team of students at Coleridge Community College, were named Team of the Year.

Nominations were submitted earlier in the year and considered by a judging panel.

There was a strong field of nominees in all categories for 2022, which makes it even more impressive that the students were singled out to win in their categories.

In his nomination from his teachers, Joe is described as a “diligent and hard-working student” who “always brings a wealth of interesting information to class”.

Outside of the classroom, as part of CAST’s programme of Challenge Projects, Joe has engaged in projects with the global engineering, management and development consultancy Mott MacDonald.

Joe said: “I was surprised but very pleased to win the award and to see the work I have produced over the past three years being recognised in such a way.”

Formed in September 2021 and made up of 31 students from Years 8 to 11, the Coleridge Music Ambassadors are said to “have character, grit and an infectious love of the arts”.

They were praised for their ambition in putting ideas into practice, as shown by the highly successful autumn showcase for Year 7 students, which they helped to organise.

The lead ambassadors, Year 11 students Naomi Cooper, Isla Harvey, Lola Hooper, Lilly Kent-Taylor, Jet Moore and Rosie Youngs, said: “It’s such a privilege to have been presented with this award, and we are honoured to have been acknowledged for our hard work.

“Our team is more like a big family who support and look out for one another, with Miss Lewis encouraging us all to step out of our comfort zones and be the best versions of ourselves. That’s why we all work so well together and are able to achieve great things.”

In his nomination, Hugo is described as “an outstanding Year 9 student and a natural leader” who shows “an excellent attitude to learning in all his subjects”.

This was particularly evident during the lockdown period, where he consistently went above and beyond expectations, completing extra tasks, recording plays and producing extended projects.

Hugo is also active in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including music, debating and social action.

He said: “I feel so honoured to win this award. It goes without saying that I owe an enormous thank you to all my friends, my teachers and my family – they have made this possible.”

The winners received their engraved glass awards last month at a special ceremony at The Queen’s Hotel in Leeds.

Danielle Pacey, principal at CAST, said: “I would like to congratulate Joe on this very well-deserved award. Not only has Joe exemplified our school values of resilience and responsibility, but he has gone above and beyond in applying his skills in the real-world through his practical project work with Mott MacDonald. I know we are all very excited to see where Joe’s ambition and talent takes him in the future.”

Richard Shaw, interim principal at Coleridge Community College, said: “Our music ambassadors have played an important role as young leaders within the school and helped to champion and create further opportunities to engage with the arts outside of the classroom.

“We are all delighted for them in winning recognition for this work on a national scale and they can take great pride in their achievement.”

Craig Morrison, principal at Parkside Community College, said: “I would like to congratulate Hugo on his award, which not only recognises his hard work at Parkside to date but also shows he has the potential to go even further as he begins his GCSE studies in the autumn.

“Our aim at Parkside is that all our students are able to thrive both in their academic work and as a valuable member of our school community and Hugo is a fantastic example of this. He should be very proud of his achievement.”