THE Mayor and Mayoress of Rossendale were among those who applauded the record academic performance of pupils at Fearns Community Sport College.

Councillors Peter and Hazel Steen were guests of honour at the Bacup specialist college's awards presentation last night, when headmaster Mark Smallwood paid tribute to students who have achieved the school's slogan by going "further, faster higher" in the past 12 months.

The former Year 11 students and many of their parents returned to the Fearns Moss college for the evening, where they were congratulated for chalking up the best GCSE results in its history.

The official opening of the college's Movement Hall by Premiership footballer Paul Scholes was noted as a highlight of the past year.

Since the dedicated trampolining facility was opened, Fearns has become the major trampolining centre for the North West, and has already hosted two regional championships.

Deputy headteacher Nigel Dawson said: "The Movement Hall has been a fantastic success, and we hope to build on that by developing it further this year."

The Mayor of Rossendale's Award - Rosa Vaughan; The Medex Award - Janine Moore; The National Westminster Bank Award - Jane Nuttall; The Kingfisher Group Award - Shaun Parkinson; The J B Broadley Award - Holly Buckley; The Bacup Shoe Company Award - Mohammed Mehboob and Rosie Chadwick; Fearns Community Sports College Merit Award - Juliette Hurst, Natasha Duffy, Emma Titley, Sean Moxham; The Footwear Industry Awards (Art and Design) - Chantelle Noon and Bojan Millward; The Lloyds TSB Award for Business - Emma Titley; The Perplas Awards - Samual Taylor, Ben Shufflebottom/Larkin, Juliette Hurst; The Fearns Community Sports College Award (Drama) - Sean Moxham; The Auto Cross Plastics Award (English) - Mohammed Mehboob; The Jessie Hargreaves Award (English Literature) - Rosa Vaughan; The Footwear Industry Award (Food Technology) - Rebecca Lynsky; The George Bristow Award - Karl Whitaker; The Footwear Industry Award for History - Janine Moore; The Lanway Corporate Business Systems Award - Rachael Jordan; The Alan Taylor Award - Scott Coupe; The Cincture Award for Statistics - Alex Spencer; The Drury Adams Award - French: Katie Shaw, Spanish: Rosie Chadwick; The Jessie Hargreaves Memorial Award -Tim Weir; The Fearns Community Sports College Award (RE) - Katie Evan; The Fearns Community Sports College Award (Health & Social Care) - Zoe Hartley; The Reg Barnes Award - Bojan Millward; The Brian Smith Award - Caley Ambrose; The Eric Varley Award for Industry - Rebecca Lynsky; The Training 2000 Award for Work Experience - Nick Haworth and Ziggy Higgins; The Alan Duckworth Sportsperson of the Year Award - Holly Buckley; The Howarth Packaging Award - Ben Shufflebottom/Larkin; The Neal Nuttall Award - Leanne Williams; The Robert Barnes Award - Nick Leivers; The Army Leadership Award - Jack McGregor; The Fearns Community Sports College Special Award (Commitment) - Scott Johnson; The Barry J Crabtree Memorial Award - Laura Wildeman