That was the message to students at Paston Sixth Form College in North Walsham from Professor Susan Smith, Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, who was guest speaker at their annual awards.

Through hard work anyone can achieve their dreams.

That was the message to students at Paston Sixth Form College in North Walsham from Professor Susan Smith, Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, who was guest speaker at their annual awards.

She spoke to students about their career paths and having the ambition, confidence and determination to aim for the very best.

More than 200 students and their parents packed into St Nicholas Church for the ceremony.

Ms Smith presented the certificates and prizes to all the students, including over 80 Norfolk County Scholars who had achieved ABB grades or better at A level and distinctions on their BTEC courses.

Special prizes included the Ivan Palfrey Cup presented to Oliver Church by Ted Gadsden for the Rotary Club and also the Kristopher Harper prize to Toby Watts for outstanding academic achievement during his first year of study. The Paston Sportsperson of the year was awarded to Kate Sawyer. The Arnolds Keys Cup for Drama and Performance was awarded to Hazel Needham. A new prize, the David Acott prize for Creative and Media, was presented by Janet Acott and awarded to Jack Gunn.

Paston principal Kevin Grieve, who acknowledged the contribution of staff and students to the 'excellent' report card from Ofsted inspectors in January, said: 'It has been a brilliant year for the college with the students achieving some of our best ever A level and BTEC results.

'It is not surprising that over 200 students are going to University after A level and BTEC courses, with over 15% going on to top Russell Group Universities including Oxbridge. All over the country, universities will be receiving some talented people from Norfolk.'

And he added: 'Once again the awards evening has been a brilliant success.'