All Saints Catholic College is proud of its track record of helping pupils from all different backgrounds.
And its efforts have earned a big reward.
The school has a higher than average proportion of pupils who are entitled to free school meals, as well as those whose home language is not English.
The school is working towards closing the gap between all students, regardless of background and now that work has been recognised in the highest circles.
It has beaten off competition from hundreds of other schools to win £15,000 in the government’s national Pupil Premium Awards.
The Pupil Premium is extra funding for less advantaged children, and the awards are judged on the impact individual schools make on children’s lives and achievements.
All Saints spends the cash in a number of different ways, including on extra revision guides, motivational speakers, extra-curriculum activities, lessons and summer school.
The school won £5,000 in February and put a submission in for the main prize - and promptly forgot all about it until last week, when a letter from the organisers arrived congratulating them on being runners-up in Yorkshire and Humberside - winning a further £10,000.
Assistant headteacher Dave Thomas travelled to London to collect the prize at the prestigious awards ceremony, attended by former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, at Draper’s Hall in the heart of the City.
Headteacher Anita Bodurka said: “We are thrilled to win this award, we have never won anything like this before.
“We are a very inclusive and diverse school, with students from all different places and backgrounds. Our aim is to work with students, whatever their background, and bring the best out of them.
“It is definitely very satisfying that our work has been recognised at a national level.”
In 2014 All Saints achieved its best-ever GCSE results. Some 63% of pupils achieved A* to C passes in five subjects including English and maths - nearly 10% above the national average.
