A very special award was also presented this week to one of our students, Emmanuel, from the Mizen Foundation.

St Bonaventure’s has worked for many years with the Mizen Foundation. This is an organisation that works for peace, hope and forgiveness in memory of Jimmy Mizen who was killed the day after his 16th birthday in 2008.

His parents, Barry and Margaret, have become great friends of the school.

At Jimmy’s own school, they set up a special award – The Sparkle Award – and this year wanted to extend this into a small number of other schools.

They asked us to put forward a nomination for this award – someone who lives in the way Jimmy did – an individual who is kind, caring and helpful, someone the school thinks has sparkled.

Mr Hayes and Mr Caddy knew straightaway who that student was so put forward Emmanuel’s name and added: “Emmanuel is a selfless young man who is a huge source of support to his friends, particularly at the time of Kayjon’s passing last year. He works hard in lessons and has forged excellent professional relationships with staff. He is thoughtful and caring with his peers too.

“We were proud and honoured to put his name forward.“

Well done Emmanuel for sparkling.