Northallerton Students Earn Academic Acclaim

Students from Northallerton School and Sixth Form College have been celebrating success in the annual Arete Challenge competitions. 

The challenges were set up in 2020 and are intended to encourage students to explore aspects of education beyond that which they experience in the classroom. They are modelled on similar programmes devised by universities and, as such, represent a high degree of academic rigour.

The programme is open to students at the Arete Trust schools in Richmond and Stokesley as well as those in Northallerton. This year’s challenges were set in five different subject areas: maths, English, biology, history and drama.

The winners are chosen by independent judges with a high level of expertise in their chosen field. Of the nine winners selected this year, an impressive two-thirds came from the school in Northallerton.

Ami Abhilash (pictured), a year 12 student from Northallerton, was the winner of the prestigious Key Stage 5 biology prize. Her winning entry involved writing about the impact of different foods on the human body with a particular focus on the gut microbiome. When asked about how she achieved her success, Ami humbly replied that it was, ‘mostly just research’, but added that she was both ‘surprised’ and ‘delighted’ to have been chosen.

Another NSSFC student, Megan McLafferty, 14, also from Northallerton, won the poetry prize for her composition inspired by Eduoard Manet’s painting, ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergere’. Her poem was described as ‘imaginative’ and ‘emotional’ by the poetry judge.

The Arete Challenges continue to grow every year so students across the Trust will have another chance to compete for prizes in a variety of subject areas next year.