South Craven School head teacher Andrew Cummings has expressed his real concerns about the cuts in public expenditure and how they would impact so unfairly on the current year 12 cohort.

Speaking at the annual presentation evening, Dr Cummings said the youngsters would not only lose the Educational Maintenance Allowance, which supported up to a third of sixth-form students at the Cross Hills school, but they also faced a trebling of the cost of university education.

He said schools would have fewer resources but more freedom on how to deploy them, and this had been central in the governors passing a resolution to convert the school into an academy.

In his report, Dr Cummings congratulated students on their record GCSE results – 98 per cent achieved A* to C grades – and the progress made put South Craven in the top ten per cent of schools nationally.

With league table results appearing on the same day, Dr Cummings asked why the Government was moving away from recording progress measures, which, in Craven, indicated children made more progress in non-selective schools, something which he believed should be celebrated.

A-level results were also a record, with 29 subjects having a 100 per cent pass rate and 42.2 per cent of all entries being awarded grades A*, A or B. Dr Cummings paid tribute to the staff, whose hard work underpinned the success of the students.

Guests of honour were Sue Ingham, who taught at the school from 1975 until 2010, and her daughter, Louie, a former student, who is a successful theatre director, currently working at The Dukes Theatre, in Lancaster.

Dr Cummings was challenged by one of the prizewinners, Simone Santabarbara, regarding the continued funding of the work of the Local Sports Partnership.

Dr Cummings was pleased to take this challenge and described the £850,000 the school had invested in sport, with a new Astroturf pitch and a sports hall, which was nearing completion.

Prizewinners were: Ogden Trust Award for Mathematics – Millie Whitaker; Ogden Trust Award for Science – Nathan Cant; Head teacher’s Award for GCSE – James Bannister, Becky Brown, Kayleigh Davies, James Heseltine, David Paley, Hannah Schofield and Ruth Waters; Tom Bailey Award for Personal Achievement – Ben Simons; Dr Pattison Award for Personal Achievement – Nathan Pickles; Richard J Charlton Award for Outdoor Pursuits – Matthew Dudman; Sporting Achievement Award – Sophie Peaple and Simone Santabarbara; Millennium Shield for Service to the Community – Zoe Turner; Head teacher’s Award for Service – Ashleigh Hall and Beth Meachin; Human Studies Award – Emily Bailey; Languages Award – Alison Fretwell; Technology Award – Will Twigg; Mathematics and Science Award – Tim Whiting; and Creative Arts Award – Jamie Pickles.