On Tuesday 31st October we welcomed back the Class of 2018 for their GCSE presentation evening. It was a chance to celebrate some fantastic results and achievements over the last 5 years at Northgate. The evening was hosted by Dr Hone, Deputy Head of School. He opened the evening with some key images on his presentation. Thursday 5th September 2013 was the date the year group started their Northgate journey as year 7s. Ellie Golding was number one in the charts, Norwich had been promoted and just won their first match back in the premiership. It was also a chance to look at some of the activities they had been involved in over the 5 years including the embarrassing year 7 school photos!
Dr Hone likes his facts and figures and said from the first day at school to the date of the evening there were 1881 days. He asked students to think about all they had achieved in those 1881 days and what they may achieve or may be doing in a further 1881 days – Christmas Eve 2023.
Mr Mason gave the Head of School’s address and congratulated students on their superb results as well as making the most of every opportunity at Northgate. Some of the students were then presented with their GCSEs certificates by Head of Year, Mr Lea. The guest speaker for the evening was former Dereham Sixth Form student, Councillor and member of Norfolk County Council, Ed Colman. He gave a quote from Winston Churchill and talked about never giving up on your dreams, dreaming big, everyone having the chance to meet their potential and grabbing the opportunities that come their way.
GCSE and honours certificates were then awarded to students who gained 8 or more GCSEs grade 9-4. Mr Lea gave his address and talked about how special the year group were to him as they were his first year group that he had overseen. He thanked staff and tutors for the work they had put in with the Year 11s during their time at Northgate and for the support parents and carers had shown. He also spoke about how much of a support the year group were to him last year through some difficult times and showed the Bolton Wanderers signed football shirt that they presented him on the leavers day which now proudly hangs in his office.
Mr Mason then had the honour of presenting the subject prizes. Each department had the difficult choice of which student to award the subject prize to and this year the winners did not know in advance that they had been chosen. Dr Hone read a little piece written by the departments as to why each student was chosen before they awarded their special trophies.
The winners were:Â
- English Language – Jenson Jordan
- English Literature – George Birch
- Maths – Rosie Jones
- Science – Will Sparkes
- Geography – Eleanor Hughes
- History – Rosie Hindle
- French – Hannah Stephan
- Spanish – Jess Abreu
- Resistant Materials – Ellis Johnson
- Food and Nutrition – Georgia Clements
- Textiles – Shannon Roper
- Photography – Ben Thurston
- Fine Art – Jemmy Copsey
- Music – Indira Smith
- Drama – Katie Mulligan
- Computer Science – Oliver Nicol
- Religious Studies – Megan McCarthy
- PE – Lucy Cork
There were also two special awards presented to Anna Davis and Imraj Purewal for Outstanding Overall Achievement. Between them they gained a total of 16 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and a grade 7 – an amazing achievement!
Head Girl, Rosie Jones, Head Boy, Will Stone, Deputy Head Girl, Emily Booth and Deputy Head Boy, Adam Birks were presented with the Head of School’s awards and thanked for their work in representing Northgate at events, in school and in the community. The set of awards for contribution to the community, personal endeavour and personal progress were presented by Ms Haggith, Chair of Governors.
Ladies Circle Prize for Contribution to the community – Jess Abreu for all her work with dementia friends and helping to set up the cooking and giving scheme at Eckling Grange.- Dereham Rotary Club Prize for Personal Progress – Megan McCarthy for making outstanding progress across her subjects from her starting point.
- Dereham Lions Club Prize for Contribution to the Community – Emily Booth for all her work during her time with community events.
- Governors’ Prize for Personal Progress – Lexie Fields who wrote to the school asking for a place and would not accept no for an answer. She made excellent progress across all her subjects.
The final award of the evening was presented by Mr Hambling, CEO of Unity Education Trust, the Trustees’ Award for resilience – Jacob Tait who didn’t always find his subjects particularly easy but asked for help, took all the support that was on offer and really persevered with his studies.
A big thank you to Miss Mather, exams officer for organising the evening, to Dr Hone for hosting the evening, to Governors and Trustees who attended, Ed Colman for his address and staff, parents and students who attended. All at Northgate wish the Class of 2018 all the success for their future studies and careers. We are incredibly proud of everything they achieved over their time at Northgate and hope they will look back fondly on their time at school and all the opportunities they were able to take advantage of.
 
