Greenhead College welcomed back their Class of 2019 on Thursday 19th December for their annual College Awards and Reunion Evening.

The formal event was held at the John Smith’s Stadium and was an opportunity for the College to celebrate the hard work and outstanding results of their recent leavers. The A Level results in Summer 2019 saw Greenhead College remain the Number 1 A Level College in Yorkshire for A*-B grades at A Level, a position they have held for many years. They were once again placed as one of the Top 5 Sixth Form Colleges Nationally for the same criteria.

The guests were greeted to a performance by the College’s Jazz band and Chair of Governors, Richard Armstrong opened the ceremony. Principal of the College, Simon Lett followed with a round-up of the 2018/19 college year showcasing the impressive talent amongst the year group.

The special guest of the evening and presenter of the awards was Ian Berry, former Greenhead College student and world famous Denim Artist. Ian spoke about his time at Greenhead College and his success as an Artist which was certainly inspiring to the recent leavers who are embarking on the next stage of their career journeys.

Awards were given for each individual subject plus a handful of special recognition and achievement awards. Roshni Parmar-Hill, who has been shortlisted for the national British Education Awards in the A Level category, was amongst the winners taking home the History prize.

The evening concluded with a performance by the College’s recent Battle of the Bands winner ‘The Free Radicals’.

Simon Lett, Principal at Greenhead College commented:

“Our annual reunion and awards evening is always a highlight of the Greenhead College year. It was great to welcome back so many former students and to hear how well they are now doing in the next stage of their education and training. We wish them every success for the future.”

The College would like to thank all the individuals and organisations who sponsored a prize for the event.

Greenhead College’s Amnesty Enrichment group recently held a Write for Rights campaign in College to support and fight for the rights of those whose basic human rights are being attacked. Write for Rights is a global campaign taking place throughout December and is Amnesty’s biggest Human Rights Campaign.

Throughout the lunchtime, the College’s Amnesty group spent time speaking to students and encouraging them to write letters and sign petitions to put pressure on governments, institutions and decision-makers to do the right thing.

Just one example of people in which our students are supporting are Sarah and Seán, who are facing a lengthy prison sentence for helping save refugees from drowning in the waters around Lesvos. Their humanitarian work saved lives, but like many others across Europe, they are being criminalised for helping refugees. The pair risk facing up to 25 years in prison on ‘people smuggling’ charges. They already spent more than 100 days in prison before being released on bail in December 2018.

The event provided our students with an insight into the injustices happening all around the world. Students showed huge amounts of compassion and desire to help those in need by signing various petitions on the Amnesty website.

If you would like to get involved with the campaign please visit https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/write-for-rights/.