Prize Giving 2022

5th October 2022

Prize Giving at St Margaret's School is one the the highlights of the year. The opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our pupils, to reflect on progress, and to champion the art of not giving up, is central to who we are as a community.

This year, we were delighted to invite Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham, a pharmacist and lecturer in Pharmaceutics at King’s College, London and Mandy Hickson, author and pioneering female fighter pilot, to speak to Junior and Senior School pupils.

With music at both ceremonies from some of our most talented pupils, a prefect review of the year and two incredible, inspirational speeches, it was a day that saw an abundance of peer-on-peer celebration and where our community came together to make sure pupil achievement was recognised and rewarded, whether it was for academic success, House awards or resilience and kindness.

“Whether you are in Year 6 looking at secondary school laid out in front of you, or if you are just excited because you are going to learn to play the drums this year, it doesn't matter what it is, grab it, make the most of it, and look forward to the rewards that come.”

Thank you to our two fantastic guest speakers that joined us for the day, it was a pleasure to welcome both Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham and Mandy Hickson in to School and to hear them talk a little about career pathways and aspirations.

Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham is a pharmacist, lecturer in Pharmaceutics at King’s College London, and Founder of King’s College London Fight the Fakes, as well as a Board Member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain. She leads her research group ‘The Raimi Abraham Group’ which focuses on solving pharmaceutical challenges in infectious diseases with a particular interest in malaria, tuberculosis, and latent and asymptomatic infections. Dr Raimi-Abraham is the founder and host of Monday Science (selected in the top 25 Best UK Science Podcasts by Feedspot), a weekly podcast that discusses the latest in science, health and technology. Dr Raimi-Abraham is the first graduate of the University of East Anglia School of Pharmacy to be awarded a PhD, the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Woman in STEM Precious Award and more recently, was awarded the 2022 Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Emerging Scientist Award. Before her current position at King’s, Dr Raimi-Abraham held positions at University College London (UCL) as an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) postdoctoral researcher and at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a seconded Quality National Expert.

https://www.bahijjaraimiabraham.com/

Mandy Hickson has over 30 years experience within aviation. She joined the Royal Air Force in 1994 and flew the Tornado GR4 on the front line, where she operated in hostile environments, including patrolling the ‘No Fly’ zone over Iraq. Since leaving the RAF she has retrained as a facilitator and coach in human performance factors. Drawing on her experience of calculated risk-taking, decision-making under pressure and the critical role of the human in the system, she transfers vivid lessons from the cockpit to other management and leadership contexts. Mandy is now a highly demanded keynote speaker across a range of business sectors, where she talks with humour and great passion to inspire those around her. She has been invited to share her insights with some of the most successful organisations across the world where she describes the strategies and behaviours that can be adopted when the stakes are at their highest. She has recently launched her bestselling book, ‘An Officer, Not a Gentleman’, her inspirational journey to become a pioneering female fighter pilot.

https://www.mandyhickson.com/

{{ result.title }}