The many achievements of the Class of 2011, who completed their sixth form courses at Royal Wootton Bassett School last summer, were applauded at a memorable evening in the school hall last Wednesday.

The timing of the event, at New Year rather autumn, enabled award winners to attend before returning to their various universities.

Guest speaker Dr Stuart Wilks-Heeg, senior lecturer in Social Policy at Liverpool Uni-versity, said he was delighted to have been invited back to his old school.

He showed a cherished copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, his choice of prize 30 years ago, and he said that he has a collection of former Speech Day programmes.

He congratulated the school on its impressive record, which culminated in its recent designation as Outstan-ding in every Ofsted category.

On commending the award recipients on the broad range of subjects they are studying at a wide diversity of institutions, he said: “I am impressed from the vantage point of a university lecturer who wants to recruit people like you.”

Dr Wilks-Heeg noted that the number of sixth form students going on to university has trebled since his own schooldays, and he praised the consistently high standards of academic achievement that have been maintained over the years.

Headteacher George Croxford praised the students’ leadership qualities and emphasised Royal Wootton Bassett School’s role in the community.

“This school is not an exam factory,” he said.

He paid tribute to its excellent staff and students who he described as “principled, caring, open minded, well balanced, internationally aware young people who are simply a pleasure to be around”.

Impressive musical entertainment was provided by pianist Hannah Atkinson, a brass septet, and vocalists Georgie Smith and Sarah Ryan.

Additional speeches were by assistant headteacher Rob Ford, chairman of governors Malcolm Wilford, head girl Chloe Williams, head boy Adam Kaye and their predecessors Megan James and Khavish Khatib, who received awards for Service to the School.

Special awards: Calli Wheeler Award, Lucy Wright; Brian Bates Drama Cup, Dominic Baker; Angela Angell PE Shield, Rebecca Thomas; Dawn Easterling Drama Cup, Hannah Soden; Lime Kiln Sports Centre Cup, Adam Topping; The Awdry, Bailey & Douglas ICT Cup, Lewis Tolman; Bevirs Solicitors Excell-ence in Law Award, Chloe Williams; G45 Food Technology Award, Alex-andra Kent, the Richard Jones Foundation Award for Service to the Community, Jack Whit-field.

Academic award for outstanding A-level achievement: Samuel Bardwell, Andrew Dyer, Rhys Jones, Dyon Lee, Priyesh Patel, Zoe Tolman and Matthew Walsh.

Subject awards: Art and Progress in Technol-ogy, Jasmine Young; Business & Economics and Mathematics, Matt-hew Walsh; Critical Thinking, Andrew Dyer; English Language, Phys-ics and Further Math-ematics, Emily Dixon; English Literature, Jack Whitfield; French, Geog-raphy and Further Math-ematics, Zoe Tolman; General Studies, Samuel Bardwell; Geography, Rhys Jones; German, Jack Whitfield; History, Jennifer Riley and Ryan Simpkins; ICT, Michael Thomas; International Award, Thomas William-son; Law, Katherine Arrell; Mathematics and Chemistry, Priyesh Patel; Media Studies, Samantha Dunn; Music, Tristram Ireland; Performing Arts, Matthew Crawford; Psy-chology, Mollie Smith; Philosophy & Ethics, Shana Dhillon; Biology, Khavish Khatib; Socio-logy, Michael Rowell.

A-level certificates were presented, and International Baccalau-reate Diplomas were awarded to Robert Appleby, Aishal Azmi, James Cable, Imogen Campbell-Black, Shadi Daryan, Thomas Ponting, James Stansell, Kimber-ley Talbot and Thomas Williamson.