Teesdale Sixth Form is once again proud to announce details of the winners of the Mewhort Scholarship. This fantastic scheme is open to our Year 13 students each year and offers a top award of £1,500 for each year of study at university as well as five other awards of £1,000 for each year of study.
The trustees had another very difficult year with so many high-quality candidates. In the end they decided to award the top prize of £1,500 for three years to Kirsty McLachlan. Those on the interview panel were blown away by not only Kirsty’s considerable academic talent (2A*s and 2As at A level) but also her truly remarkable array of extra-curricular pursuits. Her involvement in local folk music started when she was 10 and has progressed to the extent that she now leads others in exploring this important musical connection with the past. Kirsty has chosen Churchill College Cambridge as her destination to study for a degree in music partly because it is the only college that allows students to walk on the grass. She explained the importance of this in order to retain a connection with nature and continue to inspire her love of folk music. Kirsty’s musical accomplishments and veracious appetite for new ideas and experiences are inspiring and will serve her well as she begins her undergraduate study.
Head of Sixth Form, Dr Simon Henderson, said, “Every year I sit in the interview room listening to these incredible young people tell the trustees about their hopes, dreams and talents, beaming from ear to ear. It is such a privilege to be able to work with our sixth formers and see them reach the end of a secondary school journey that has seen them grow into adulthood. The Mehwort scholarship continues to be an incredible opportunity for our students but also one that they so richly deserve.”
The other scholarship recipients this year are Ben Arundel, who talked to the interview panel about his work experience in animal pathology that helped to shape his desire to go and study to be a vet. Amy Clayton impressed the trustees with her drive and determination as she starts out on a degree in communication and media. Oliver Askwith spent a year out from his studies after completing his A levels in 2021, during which he volunteered in his local community and researched a degree in bioengineering that he starts later this month in Sheffield. Lewis Porter wowed the interview panel with his incredible artwork and considerable passion for, and insight into, science. His methodical attention to detail allowing him to excel in A levels as seemingly diverse as art and further maths. The final student to receive the £1,000 a year for each year of undergraduate study was Matt Weatherall who told the panel about his interest in attachment theory and how it could be used to help improve people’s lives. The same day as his interview Matt caught a train to Glasgow where he will begin a degree in psychology at Strathclyde University.
Our new Head of School, Anna Cleckner, said of sitting in on the interviews: “That was a truly wonderful experience. I have never heard students talk with such maturity, knowledge and conviction. It was almost as though many of them had already completed their undergraduate degrees. I wish their presentations had been recorded so I could watch them back and enjoy them again.”
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