The Sixth Form College, Solihull held its annual Awards Evening at the Renewal Conference Centre last night, celebrating student success during the 2011/2012 academic year.
Staff and students were joined at the Lode Lane centre by parents and other notable guests to hand out prizes and enjoy student performances in Music, Dance and Drama. Prizes were given out for every subject, as well as extra curricular activities, including sport and exceptional progress. A large number of students also received College Colours, which is a special award that any student can apply for by demonstrating leadership, team-work and completing a challenging activity.
Special guest for the event was Justin King CBE. He was a student at the College from 1977 – 1979 and has gone on to achieve great success since. He has recently been awarded an AoC Gold award for his achievements since leaving College. He is currently the Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, having also worked for a number of other prominent food manufacturers such as Mars Confectionery, Pepsi International and Haägen Dazs before becoming Director of ASDA in 1994. In 2001, King moved to Marks & Spencer where he managed the food division.
Justin joined Sainsbury’s in 2004, charged with improving sales and halting its declining market share. Within six months, King had launched his recovery programme under the banner, “Making Sainsbury’s Great Again” and has recently been able to announce that the company has achieved 30 consecutive quarters of sales growth.
In January 2009 Justin was appointed to the Board of the London Organising Committee for the Olympics by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. He was then made a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group and awarded a CBE in the Birthday Honours in 2011.
College Principal Paul Ashdown, commented: “It was a fantastic night and we are so grateful to Justin King for taking time out of his busy schedule to help us celebrate the successes of this year’s students. Justin spoke to the students at the end of the night and offered them some advice. He is a source of inspiration to our students, as it just goes to show what you can achieve with a good education behind you and a drive and determination to succeed.”