SUCCESS of all kinds was celebrated on Thursday evening as Alloa Academy hosted their senior pupils award ceremony.

Academy pupils from S4, S5 and S6 were invited to a ceremony inside the school’s assembly hall, where both academic and extra curricular feats were recognised.

Leading the proceedings was Sam Stewart, one of the deputy heads for Alloa Academy, who opened the evening with a few words before passing onto Raegan Snaddon who provided a musical number on the trumpet.

Graeme Armstrong, award winning writer of The Young Team, was this year’s guest speaker, giving an excellent speech on his upbringing in Coatbridge and about the people who inspired him to get to where he is today.

First up was the subject awards section, wherein each faculty head for each subject group handed out certificates to high performers across all classes.

A wide berth of pupils across the senior student body received awards for academic achievement, with some exemplary pupils picking up more than one.

Next was the first named award, dedicated to Max Taylor, an Alloa Academy pupil who tragically lost his life last year aged just 15.

Described as a ray of sunshine, Max was the inaugural winner of the Max Taylor award, brought in this year to celebrate and commemorate his life and the resilience he showed in the face of adversity.

His mother Kari Milne was on hand to collect a bouquet of flowers on behalf of Max, with the award becoming an annual feature for the pupil who has fought back against adversity each year.

Sam said: “Max is a really missed and beloved pupil who passed away towards the end of last year.

“We are very appreciative and grateful of Kari, his mum, his gran and his escort to be in attendance tonight.

“The Max Taylor award has been awarded to Max this session, this award is for a young person who has shown great resilience and has overcome great adversity.

“That was exactly Max, he never let anything get him down and moving forward that will be awarded to a young person who displays those similar qualities.”

Graeme was back on stage next, handing out the wider achievement awards for senior pupils.

These awards were handed out to pupils who had excelled in extra curricular activities, hailing efforts for a number of reasons, some of which included helping out at the school’s breakfast club or for playing a fundamental part in the school’s annual Christmas pantomime.

Sam explained that it was important to recognise pupils who had gone above and beyond in other ways, not just academic.

She continued: “This evening recognises the success of all of our young people at Alloa Academy.

“An event which is truly inclusive and recognises the diverse nature of our school. We had a range of academic awards and then a range of wider achievement awards as well.

“Our young people have achieved within the classroom, outwith the classroom but also outwith the school environment too.

“That was something we felt was really important when designing the award ceremony last year was that we moved away from the event purely being academic and that we recognise success in all of its forms.”

A brief intermission occurred while pupil Alex Stewart performed a rendition of Firework by Katy Perry for the audience.

Lastly, the special named awards were handed out, starting with the Sagar Award for Music, won by Beth Munro in S4.

Eilidh Smith in S6 was the winner of the Margaret Beveridge Quaich Award, while the Learning for Sustainability Award was jointly won by Savanah Stirling and Aidan Reynolds.

Ellie Hodge won the Community Empowerment Award for her work with the Alloa Academy Breakfast Club.

The Proxime Accessit was won by Luke Borland, after he achieved the highest exam results during his fifth year at the school.

Lastly, Tom Kay won the Dux Medal 2024, for his outstanding academic achievement across the school year.