MOUNTAINEER Bonita Norris, the youngest person to climb Mount Everest at the time, was this year’s speaker at St Nicholas’ School’s annual prize-giving ceremony.

After presenting the awards, Miss Norris told her audience about how she had first become interested in mountaineering.

An inspiring university lecturer had described the incredible experience of seeing the curvature of the earth, as if looking down from space, from the top of Mount Everest. She was determined to achieve see this for herself.

Miss Norris encouraged the girls to believe in, and have trust in, themselves.

She concluded with the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you”, encouraging them to be open to a challenge.

“We all have mountains to climb and it is the journey getting there that is just as important as reaching the summit,” she added.

The prize giving ceremony started with a concert featuring a varied programme of popular and classical music.

Highlights included a hauntingly atmospheric performance of Faure’s Sicilienne by the school’s senior orchestra and a lively rendition of the Andante from Haydn’s Symphony No. 94, Surprise by the junior chamber orchestra.

There were excellent performances by the junior and senior choirs, and chamber choirs.

The concert concluded with the whole school performing Brendan Graham number You Raise Me Up.

Headgirl Juliette West gave a personal review of the action-packed school year, highlighting the girls’ achievements and successes, in the non-academic as well as academic spheres.

Headmistress Annette Whatmough reflected on her years in education and the changes she has seen, pointing out that some things seemed to have come full circle.

She spoke of the importance of being able to adapt in the face of changing and challenging circumstances.

She emphasised that, in our rapidly changing environment, where one needs to have mastery of technology and where everyone wants instant gratification, the ability to relate to, and communicate with, others is still vitally important.

Mrs Whatmough concluded by expressing her optimism in the future, and the long-term stability of the school, stating how she believed that St Nicholas’ created capable and confident young women, able to take their place in the world and participate fully in it, thanks to the firm foundations laid at school.

Deputy headgirl Seraphia Blake closed the ceremony with the vote of thanks and then everyone was invited to take afternoon tea outside on the lawn.