PROUD parents and guardians packed into Dumbarton Academy on Wednesday night to see their children take centre stage during the school's annual prize giving.

And once again, there were some terrific achievements across the board as the pupils proved they were 'different class' when it comes to academic success.

Politics student Taylor Fleming was named as Head Girl, while David Henderson was bestowed with the Head Boy accolade.

It was a night to remember for both pupils as they won the Head Teacher's award for Services to the School too.

Other highlights saw James Weir bestowed with The Pride of Dumbarton Award, while Catriona Kirk won the McFall Trophy- Leadership award and the Briony Waddell award for overcoming adversity.

Ross Thackrey won the S4 merit award for his hard work and endeavours, while scores of other pupils received their Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Christie Grierson captured the Alan J Thompson Community Cup and Jillian Farrell was name the winner of the Parent Council Rona Evans award.

One of the special guests on the night was Edinburgh Rugby star Mark Bennett.

Head teacher at Dumbarton Academy, Claire McInally, said afterwards: "I was delighted with the changes we have made to recognising achievement across our school.

"In June, we separated our Broad General Education (S1-S3) Ceremony and the Senior Phase (S4-6) Ceremony.

"This enabled us to celebrate the academic and wider achievements of so many more young people than ever before.

"Academic awards were based on the young person’s actual SQA performance.

"Some of the wider achievements recognised included the 26 young people who completed Duke of Edinburgh Awards (from Bronze right through to Gold) and those who achieved well in sporting pursuits.

"Most notable were our two Dux recipients.

"Ben Muir was awarded the S4 Dux and Katie Black was awarded the S5 Dux.

"These are awarded to the single pupil in each year group who achieved the best results in SQA exams.

"It is always a night at which I am immensely proud and this year was particularly special for me because a former pupil of mine, Mark Bennett, was back to talk about his successes in his rugby career.

"Mark’s presentation particularly chimed with us as we have been focussing on adopting a growth mindset with our pupils and his has certainly been tested over the recent past.

"All in all, it was a very successful night with lots of parental and family support which is always very welcome."