A PROFESSIONAL mountain climber and explorer was on hand to help The Clere School celebrate its exam success.

Lee Farmer was welcomed as guest speaker at the school’s annual presentation evening.

Known as “the ordinary guy doing extraordinary things”, Mr Farmer spends as much free time as possible participating in diverse activities such as rockclimbing, mountaineering and mountain biking.

He has completed the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge, which is the quest to reach each continent’s highest point.

After presenting last year’s Year 11 students with their GCSE certificates, he presented students with awards and trophies for achievement in individual subject areas, as well as a number of special awards.

Head teacher Felicity Martin said: “This year group achieved very strong results. In particular maths results were excellent.

“We have an outstanding team of teachers and leaders at The Clere, and we know that with our highly motivated students and support from parents ‘anything is possible.”

After all of the presentations, Mr Farmer spoke for around 15 minutes to the gathered students.

He said: “Whatever you do in life, be true to who you are and be the best you can.

He added: “Make sure you have a plan. You will need vision, being able to visualise yourself succeeding.

“You will need motivation, you must really want to succeed.

You will need a training strategy and experience.

“Attitude really does determine altitude. There’s not a dream that shouldn’t be dared.”

Deputy head teacher Zayne Essop said: “This advice is very relevant to a group of Year 12 students embarking on the next stage of their education and career.

“The class of 2014 were a very diligent and hard working year group.”