A TELEVISION producer returned to her former school to speak at its annual awards evening.

Former Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) students were presented with their A-level certificates at the Senior Speech Night.

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Guest speaker Kayleigh Mills, who left the Waterfoot school in 2004, reassured students that it is okay to not know what you want to do with your life.

Meanwhile headmaster Alan Porteous reflected on the exam results students achieved this year.

The school was recently ranked 77th in the country in the Sunday Times Parent Power League Table out of 250 moving from 155th in 2015.

It was ranked eighth in the North West.

The school celebrated record success at A-level achieving its best ever results with 73 per cent of grades achieved being A* to B and 46 per cent being A* to A.

Mrs Mills left the sixth form and volunteered in Ecuador with underprivileged children before studying Spanish at the University of St Andrews.

As a producer she has worked on various programmes, both in the UK and in locations around the world, including The Island with Bear Grylls, Hunted, Dragons’ Den, Mastermind and Old School with the Hairy Bikers.

She told students: “I think it is one of the biggest myths that you are supposed to know what you want to do with the rest of your life at 18.

“If you are one of the lucky few to have had a passion since day dot and know with absolute certainty that that is your calling in life, then that is great.

“However, you should not feel worried or anxious if you don’t know yet.”

She also said that taking the trickier and less straight-forward route is sometimes the best way.

“Taking the long and winding road has served me much more than everything falling neatly into place would have,” she said.

“The key is determination and not giving up. The things you look back on in 12 years’ time will be the things that didn’t come easily to you, the things you had to graft for, and they will be what define you as a person and what you will become the proudest of.”