On Monday the 15th of January, some of Bromley’s most outstanding pupils and staff gathered in the Churchill Theatre to applaud their fellow Jack Petchey Achievement Award winners. 

The Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme was set up in 1999 by Sir Jack Petchey, who started a taxi business after serving in the Navy during the Second World War. From these humble beginnings, Sir Jack has built a multi-million-pound empire and was even awarded a CBE in 2016. 

Many years of hard work, perseverance, and innovative thinking now allow the philanthropist to encourage many similarly dedicated young people to strive towards their dreams through the award’s associated recognition and prize money- over 11,000 winners were reported in the Foundation’s 2023 report. 

In each school supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation (JPF), between 3 and 9 winners are nominated every academic year. Nominations are awarded for a diverse range of reasons, from overcoming personal challenges or achieving extracurricular success in sports or music, to making a positive impact on their local community through volunteering or leadership roles. 

The award winners are then celebrated every year in a grand Awards Event, which is often attended by VIPs supporting the Foundation. 

This year, the Bromley borough’s JPF event was attended by the Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Mike Botting. The Mayor handed out Achievement Award medallions to the winning students and staff from a range of schools across the borough. 

“I consistently ran meetings, listened to what students wanted to change, and fought to improve the locker system.” 

Nella Djurdjevic is a student at Newstead Wood School in Orpington, Bromley, and attended this years awards night. 

She won the award last year “for my work as head of school parliament during my year 12.” 

Nella was an active member of the school parliament, describing how she “consistently ran meetings, listened to what students wanted to change, and fought to improve the locker system.” 

The Jack Petchey Achievement Award allows students to give back to their school community; £300 is given to the winner to spend on anything they think will benefit the school.  

According to the Foundation’s 2023 report, many students chose to treat their classmates to Day Trip Outings, with expanding Sports Equipment and Classroom Resources also being popular. 

Studying Maths at A-Level, Nella was keen to further develop the department at Newstead Wood and spent the award money “on maths related books in the library,” which recently underwent an expansion.  

She states that “These books have been incredible for increasing the interest of pupils in maths and helping to prepare them for future mathematical studies.” 

“The awards ceremony was brilliant... it was lovely to see the wide range of ways people in Bromley had gone above and beyond” 

The awards ceremony brought together similarly enthusiastic and determined people from the South-East London borough, with Nella pointing out that “it was especially lovely to see the wide range of ways people in Bromley had gone above and beyond.” 

Nella thoroughly enjoyed the awards ceremony and the connection it allowed with neighbouring schools in the borough, saying that “There was a great sense of community celebration for these amazing achievements.”