GOLD stars were awarded to top maths students at Ulverston Victoria High School in 1994.

In a national contest, sponsored by Sharpe and organised by the school of mathematics at Birmingham University, seven students struck gold for their high marks.

And one top-scoring pupils, Carolyn Metcalfe, had been invited to take part in an international competition.

Carolyn, who got 85 per cent in the test, would have to sit a two-hour paper and would be up against students from Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

The top 500 students out of 100,000 entries had been chosen to enter the international competition.

To achieve a gold award, pupils had to score more than 63 per cent.

The test paper has 25 questions and the Ulverston students who entered scored above the national average on 18 of them.

Head of mathematics Roger Cahalin said: “We are really pleased the results were particularly good.”

Also in 1994 former sixth-formers at Ulverston Victoria High School were praised by their teacher for their work in the community and for charity.

Head of the sixth form Roger Kingston told ex-students at UVHS’s prizegiving that he was impressed by their commitment.

The previous year 85 pupils had volunteered to take part if a wide variety of services, both in the community and in the school.

Parents who attended the presentation heard that students had helped in charity shops, in handicraft classes for visually-impaired people and in a sheltered housing scheme for elderly people.

"I hope you gained from the experience as well as giving help to others," he said.

He also praised students for the hundreds of pounds they donated to charity, as well as their academic achievements.

Presenting the prizes was John Musgrave, site director at Glaxo, who told students that they needed more than academic qualifications to succeed in the world of work.

"Your careers will go into the 21st century and you need to maintain a competitive edge and the ability to adapt to change," he said.