The John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation has recently supported pupils from Ferndown Upper School, awarding a total of £10,000 to 24 students, providing 3 Scholarships and 24 Bursaries. At such an uncertain and challenging time for young people these JTYAF Awards are more important than ever, recognising achievement, encouraging success, and inspiring the students to ‘Climb as High as they can Dream.’

We were incredibly impressed by the quality of the FUS applications this year and although we were unable to celebrate with the students at the usual Awards Ceremony, their achievements will certainly not go unrecognised.

Leon Metelsky, pictured above, received a scholarship to support his ambition to become a professional ballet dancer. He is currently auditioning for Full time Vocational Ballet Schools all around the world and has already secured places at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg and the Akademie des Tanzes Mannheim in Germany. He will represent Team England at the Dance World Cup in Spain in July. Leon has used his award to pay for his dance training, the cost of two associate courses, new ballet shoes and for the rental of the dance studio to film his audition videos. The JTYAF is delighted to support this extremely talented young man.

Another Scholarship winner aims to study Textiles at university and has used her award to purchase an embroidery machine that will help to take her sewing skills to a professional level. A Music Scholarship was also awarded to a gifted musician who aims to follow a career in music. The bursaries provided a whole range of equipment to support students studying art, photography, textiles and IT. Bursaries also included an award to cover accommodation costs enabling a student to attend a 14-week Level 1 Diploma in Racehourse Care, and a young man needing a space to study at home, will now be able to buy his own desk.

This list of awards is evidence of the diversity that the JTYAF encourages, and we wish the students at Ferndown Upper School every success for the future.