Students honoured at Evening of Celebration

Staff, students and alumni were honoured at Christ the King: St Mary’s recently at our 2015 Evening of Celebration.

After yet another year of triumph for our students, who achieved an A-Level pass rate of 98.3% and a BTEC pass rate of 99.7%, the evening was packed full of inspiration, success and congratulations.

Featuring speeches from our Principle, Dr Jane Overbury OBE, and local MP James Brokenshire, the evening honoured high achievers from across the A-Level and BTEC student bodies.

“It is heartening to hear of the success of so many people this opens up further opportunities to fulfil ambitions, pursue exciting careers and extend academic studies at university or elsewhere,” said James Brokenshire.

“I have always been impressed by the commitment shown by students from Christ the King: St Mary’s. I hope that the passion for learning I have seen and the desire to progress and achieve will continue in work and further study.”

Yet it wasn’t just students who were honoured during the evening; two Christ the King alumni were invited to share their stories of success since leaving.

Former students pass on their wisdom

Conor Ferguson and Natasha Kwabi both studied at Christ the King: St Mary’s, graduating in 2011, and have both since gone on to become teachers. For Natasha, her time away from CTK didn’t last long – she’s now a teacher at the College.

Conor studied a Biology degree at Queen Mary University of London and, having graduated in 2014, trained as a teacher. He’s now working as a science teacher at St Thomas More Catholic School – a CTK partner school.

He was invited to give a speech as part of the award ceremony, and used the opportunity to encourage students to take on as much work experience as possible.

“It is work experience that will help you decide for sure what career path you want to go down, as well as helping you once you graduate,” he told the audience.

“It is so competitive, I’ve got lots of friends from who did zoology courses, for example, and there are no jobs. They didn’t do their homework on getting in the door with companies, so I think that is certainly one thing to consider.”

Message of congratulations

As well as the awards, guests were also treated to performances from some very talented students (an original spoken word performance from student Joseph Mannah being a particular highlight) before enjoying a buffet and drinks reception, with Dr Overbury’s message of congratulations still fresh in their minds:

“This year’s results are a testament to the diligence, tenacity and passion of the student body and illustrate why Christ the King is one of the best Sixth Form Providers in South East London.”