On the evening of Thursday, 11th July I travelled back to Northampton from my ministerial duties in order to be the keynote speaker at Northampton Academy’s 2nd annual ‘Best in Everyone’ awards evening.
The evening is dedicated to recognising the efforts of students at the School when they showcase values of “respect, determination, ambition, integrity and tolerance.” It is about rewarding pupils on the development of their character. I strongly support schools working to develop young people’s personal character as well as their academic knowledge - and Northampton Academy became only the third school in the country to be awarded the ‘Kitemark’ for their work in developing character.
I strongly support the development of values such as respect, integrity and tolerance as I believe these characteristics do go a long way in helping people to not only become a success in their chosen field, but contribute a great deal to their personal, family and working relationships. I was delighted to be asked to be the keynote speaker at this local school and in my speech I spoke to parents and pupils about these issues.