STUDENTS in Weymouth celebrated their GCSE success with the world’s fastest blind man.

Wey Valley School held its annual GCSE presentation evening with inspirational speaker and sportsman, Steve Cunningham, the world’s fastest blind man.

Last year marked the school’s best results on record with 10 per cent of students achieving four or more A*s or As – a nine per cent improvement on last year.

Former students packed into the Will Mackaness Hall to receive their certificates from inspirational sportsman Steve Cunningham.

Steve went blind at the age of 12 and went on to be a world-class junior sprinter and led the England blind football team to the World Cup.

He then set himself an audacious challenge: to become the fastest blind man on the planet.

He powered to world speed records on land and sea, then took to the air and found international media fame as the world’s first blind pilot.

Steve takes audiences of all ages on his journey from despair to success, and leaves them inspired to break their own barriers to achieve their ambitions.

As part of Steve’s visit to the school, he took an assembly, met with the school council and took part in blind football in the Tennis centre with a number of students.

Steve said: “It has been a fantastic day meeting so many incredible young people with great futures ahead of them.

“The blind football brought out many qualities from students with team work and non-visual skills key to their success with this activity.

“The evening celebration of former Year 11 students was tremendous and it was great to learn of so many student GCSE successes”.

Ben Hunt, PE teacher at Wey Valley, said: “The experience and opportunity of working with Steve was fantastic for the students and staff alike.

“Steve was a real inspiration to our students, demonstrating what is truly possible when you want to achieve something, regardless of your situation.

“We hope to work with Steve again in the future”.

Phil Thomas, Principal at Wey Valley said “Staff and students from the school wish to thank Steve for his visit. Steve was an inspiration to our students throughout the day and his presentation captured their imagination to go further in their studies and future careers”.

Di Day, chairman of governors at the school said: “There was a great turnout. To see so many former students at the GCSE evening receiving many awards for their studies and exam performances at Wey Valley capped off a wonderful evening.”