The John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation has recently supported pupils from Ferndown Upper School, awarding a total of £10,000 to 24 students, providing three scholarships and 24 bursaries.

Pete Thornton, John's dad said: "At such an uncertain and challenging time for young people these JTYAF Awards are more important than ever, recognising achievement, encouraging success, and inspiring the students to climb as high as they can dream."

He added: "We were incredibly impressed by the quality of the applications this year and although we were unable to celebrate with the students at the usual ceremony, their achievements will certainly not go unrecognised."

Leon Metelsky, pictured above, received a scholarship to support his ambition to become a professional ballet dancer.

He is currently auditioning for full time vocational ballet schools all around the world and has already secured places at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg and the Akademie des Tanzes Mannheim in Germany.

He will represent Team England at the Dance World Cup in Spain in July.

Leon has used his award to pay for his dance training, the cost of two associate courses, new ballet shoes and for the rental of the dance studio to film his audition videos.

A music scholarship was also awarded to a gifted musician who aims to follow a career in music.

The bursaries provided a whole range of equipment to support students studying art, photography, textiles, and IT.

This list of awards is evidence of the diversity that the JTYAF encourages.

See more at www.jtyaf.org