EMERGENCY care specialist Dr Claire Grogan was this year’s speaker at the annual prize giving ceremony at St Nicholas School in Church Crookham.

A former pupil and school sports captain, she said St Nicholas had encouraged her to “think big’” and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

Dr Grogan gripped her audience with descriptions of the places she had travelled to as an emergency care doctor, helping with crises in Nepal and the Philippines, as well as on expeditions to the Arctic, the Belize jungle and the Sahara desert.

She recalled a random meeting with a seismologist on a plane from Delhi to Kathmandu, who advised her what to do in an earth quake, little knowing that his piece of advice, “hiding in a doorway is the safest place”, would save her life a few days later as she experienced the Nepal 2015 earthquake.

Concluding with US pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart’s famous words, “Adventure is worthwhile in itself”, Dr Grogan urged pupils, above all, to be passionate about whatever they set out to do.

Headgirl Rosie Hudson gave a comprehensive and personal review of the busy school year, highlighting the girls’ achievements and successes, in the non-academic as well as academic spheres, and the ceremony featured a selection of music by the junior and senior orchestras and choirs.

Headteacher Annette Whatmough spoke of the importance of leadership and how to prepare young people for it. She cited the example of the “loving leadership” shown by The Queen and referred to in the national service of thanksgiving held to mark her 90th birthday at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Mrs Whatmough’s speech considered what leadership means in the modern world and how leadership styles have changed.

She highlighted the importance of teamwork and the need for a leader to motivate others, show initiative and positivity and, sometimes, challenge people’s thinking.

She further described how the school offers the girls the opportunity to develop and practise their leadership skills, and encourages teamwork and co-operation, in their art, drama and games lessons and also when they participate in house music and drama competitions.