Sue Stockdale, the first British woman to walk the Magnetic North Pole, was the Guest of Honour at Portsmouth High School’s Awards Evening on Friday 27 November.

The annual ceremony held at Portsmouth Guildhall is an opportunity for the Southsea Independent Girls’ school to celebrate the achievements of current pupils and recent leavers. Amongst those to receive prizes were girls who studied for their A Levels and GCSEs in this summer’s public examinations.

In addition to being a successful polar adventurer and athlete, representing Scotland in the 3000m and  cross country events as well as being a runner up in the Channel 4 TV programme Superhuman, Sue is also a leadership and development consultant and lecturer in entrepreneurship and leadership. Following the presentation of prizes Sue gave a keynote speech as part of the evening’s programme.

Sue’s speech inspired the pupils to strive for exceptional performance in all that they do and she talked about vision, passion and action in order to achieve individual goals as well as the importance of teamwork and leadership.

Jenny Clough, Headmistress said “We’re thrilled that Sue was able to join us for this very special occasion. She talked straight from the heart about her experiences and her energy and passion was an inspiration to our girls.”

“Girls taking on challenges and leadership roles and aiming high is something that I am very committed to and passionate about. It is particularly appropriate this year to welcome Sue as we have a number of girls undertaking their own challenges, including those completing their gold award for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and 10 students who will be travelling to the Himalayas on a World Challenge  expedition next July. It is equally apt, that as Global Entrepreneurship week draws to a close we should have the author of several books on Women’s Enterprise address the audience.”