On Monday 9th September our senior students, families, staff and guests enjoyed another fantastic Senior Prize Giving celebrating our student's numerous achievements - both academic and extra-curricular. A huge thank you to our inspiring OA Steve Cooper (Ridley '91) who delivered a strong message of opportunity, curiosity and finding your path. It was wonderful to welcome him back. Steve has enjoyed an interesting and varied career to date and has worked with some pioneering and dynamic brands and indeed sportsmen, combining his passion with this role.

As a boy, Steve could scarcely have dreamt that a childhood spent playing with racing cars, space craft and paintbrushes would help land him a full-time job – let alone allow him to forge a full-time career with a world-championship winning Formula 1 team.

After leaving Aylesbury Grammar School and graduating from Leeds University with a degree in art history, Steve began actively pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a Formula 1 journalist.

Starting on the bottom rung of the journalistic ladder, he quickly started scaling its heights, becoming Grand Prix editor for Autosport magazine – the industry’s most authoritative voice – before joining legendary team McLaren to work alongside world champions Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

The growth of social media, and its embrace of multi-media, allowed Steve’s passions for music- and film-making to flourish, and he became centrally involved in creating, devising and commissioning all McLaren’s brand content, including a series of award-winning films and a string of highly successful car launches.

In his current role, he is head of international communications for Europe’s biggest touring car series, employing his background in journalism and storytelling to build the global brand presence of high-end automotive manufacturers Audi, BMW and Aston Martin.

With a life-long commitment to ‘the story’, he continues to explore and develop narrative storytelling techniques across the constantly changing media landscape, while ensuring his work remains engagingly human.

A true Aylesburian.