Oasis – Simon Thomas poses for a selfie with Jessica Little, Mairi Hibberd-McWhirr and Daniel Borer.

Former Premiership star Fabrice Muamba and Sky Sports Presenter, Simon Thomas congratulated award winning students from Oasis Academy Coulsdon at a gala celebration lunch held in Birmingham last week at the Oasis National Awards.

Hosted by Simon Thomas, with a special guest appearance from Fabrice Muamba, seven of Oasis Coulsdon's Award winning students enjoyed a sparkling, three-course lunch as did other Award winning students from Oasis Academies across the UK.

Fabrice Muamba spoke about his life since he suffered a cardiac arrest in the match against Tottenham Hotspur.  He told students about the impact it has had and the tremendous support he has received from people, including telephone messages from around the world, even from the Pope and David Beckham!

Year 10 student Conor Watmough, who won the Academy Sports Award was thrilled to meet Fabrice Muamba who congratulated him on his achievement.  Sky Sports (and former Blue Peter presenter) Simon Thomas, posed for a 'Selfie' with Sixth Formers Daniel Borer, Mairi Hibberd-McWhirr and Jessica Little who were given an Award for their entrepreneurial skills in raising money for their volunteering project in Bangalore.

Other Academy Award winners were:  Achievement Award:  Mitchell Heyden (Year 10), Arts & Culture Award:  Mollie Penfold (Year 8), Sodexo Hub Award:  Hannah McFall (Year 8)and Founder's Award:  Maisie Carpenter (Year 7)

Steve Chalke, Founder of Oasis, gave a speech and also spoke about Yashika Bageerathi, a 6th form student from Oasis Academy Hadley whose threatened deportation is currently making national news headlines.  He closed the event with a thought provoking speech on how we should strive to live our lives through reaching out to help others. Steve called students and staff to take up the challenge of supporting Yashika Bageerathi via Twitter by using the hashtag #FightForYashika in their tweets and following @SaveYashika. There is also an online petition on Change.org, which can be signed to support her cause.

"It's great to give students the opportunity to meet others from Oasis Academies across the country and to hear about all the amazing achievements of our young people" said David Millar, Executive Principal.  "Both Simon Thomas and Fabrice Muamba gave a lot of time to talk to and inspire our students and I am sure the day will be one of many highlights of their school years".

Conor Watmough with Fabrice Muamba.