POLICE officers were at John Ruskin School at Coniston in 1993, using a radar gun as part of a physics lesson on speed and its effect on braking distances.

And to show pupils how much further a vehicle travelling at high speed needed to stop, PC Dyson used her police car in the school playground.

In 1995 a group of students from the school won a prize in a national environmental competition.

Pupils were runners up in the Most Original Idea section of the Living Earth awards.

Two of the students, Hayley Donn, 15, and James Gouston, 15, travelled with their teacher David Booth to the awards ceremony in London.

They received a £100 cheque and a certificate presented by TV personality David Bellamy.

The awards aimed to promote schools and businesses working in partnership for the environment and one of the criteria was the involvement of a business in the plan.

The year ten pupils had set up a production unit as part of a GNVQ and were producing toys made from locally grown wood from the Windermere company Broadleaves.

The toys, aimed at young children, were given to local primary schools.

Mr Booth said they were hoping to use the £100 to plant some more trees to replace the ones they used making the toys.

In 2007 John Ruskin School achieved national recognition for its excellent GCSE results.

It was awarded the RATL (Raising Achievement Transforming Learning) national award by the Specialist School and Academy Trust for its sustained improvements in GCSE results.

The school, which had Technology School status, was given funds by the Specialist School and Academy Trust several years previously.

Assistant head Miriam Bailey collected the award at a ceremony at the Café Royal in London.

She said: "It was a pleasant surprise to win the award. We knew obviously that we had received funding from the Specialist School and Academy Trust but didn't realise we were up for the award."

She added: "Eighty per cent of our students achieved five GCSEs at A* to C this year, which is why we received the award."