A CELEBRITY from the world of science has congratulated Otley students on their year of achievements.

TV presenter Dr Marty Jopson, who lives in the town, was the guest speaker at Prince Henry's Grammar School's 2016 Celebration Evening.

More than 500 students, guests, parents, carers and staff attended the event at Leeds Museum on Thursday, December 15.

Prizes for a wide range of academic and personal achievements, as well as service to the school and community, were presented on the night by award sponsors and guest speaker Dr Jopson.

The audience was also treated to performances from student singers Fabienne Clarke and Anne Williams, flautist Simran Boughan and brass ensemble No Strings Attached.

This year's winner of the prestigious Kerr Scholarship, awarded for Outstanding Performance at A Level, was James Burgess - who also received the Elliot Cup for Maths and Chemspec Europe Prize for Physics.

James achieved three A* grades in Physics, Maths and Further Maths and is now studying Mathematics at Cambridge University.

Headteacher Janet Sheriff opened the ceremony with a speech congratulating all of the attending students.

She said: "GCSE examination results were outstanding this year and, at both A Level and GCSE, student attainment remains well above the national averages.

"This high level of success makes it increasingly difficult for staff and governors to select from the wide range of high calibre students.

"In addition to awards for attainment, there were the equally important awards for excellent progress, outstanding attitudes to learning and service to the school community - areas highly valued in the inclusive school ethos that exists at Prince Henry’s.

"It was lovely to see our younger students sharing their success with our older students at this fantastic event.”

Eighteen year old Chloe Tear won the Alice MacGill Memorial Award for a student displaying thoughtfulness, helpfulness and compassion for her work with younger students across the school.

Chloe, who has received many plaudits for her Life as a Cerbral Palsy Student blog and is an Ambassador for CP Teens UK, also won the Young Achiever Award from Otley Town Council earlier this year,

Sixth Former Georgia Coates meanwhile, who swam with Team GB at the Olympics this year, won the Josh Frankland Memorial Shield for Outstanding Achievement in Sport.

Some new awards were also presented for the first time, with Charlotte Borwell winning the Watson Bainbridge Award for attitude to Sixth Form and Sophie Holdsworth and Niall Richardson receiving scholarships from Otley Little Theatre for Drama and Theatre Studies.

Dr Jopson, meanwhile, gave a literally 'cracking' speech as he demonstrated how the noise of a bull whip cracking is created by the tip moving faster than the speed of sound.

The resident scientist on BBC's The One Show, he is also a freelance prop maker, presenter and science communicator as well as one of the driving forces behind the annual Otley Science Festival.