The North School in Ashford have won the ultimate prize in recognition of their rapid progress in tennis.

With county and regional honours already in the bag, they were named national school of the year at the LTA Tennis Awards.

Andrew Sunderland, the school’s head of tennis, collected the award from television presenter Natasha Kaplinsky during a ceremony at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

The ceremony was hosted by LTA president Sandi Procter, while guests included the Duchess of Gloucester, Trevor McDonald and Judy Murray.

Sunderland said: “It feels surreal to receive this award, especially amongst such esteemed company, but I am so proud of everything that we have accomplished over the last year.”

The North School didn’t have a single active tennis player in May last year.

Since then, they have embedded the sport into school life, delivering lessons to more than 400 students as part of their PE curriculum, in line with the LTA Youth Schools model.

They have also established an extra-curricular offering, with a particular emphasis on creating more opportunities for girls in the sport.

Indeed, more than 80 girls have taken to the court for weekly coaching sessions and the school have backed this up by creating an array of opportunities to play competitively.

These include 18 matchplay nights, six intra-school tournaments, two inter-school tournaments, three LTA Team Challenge nights and a Play Your Way to Wimbledon qualifying event.

The school’s progress even caught the eye of sports giants Nike, who, through the Nike Community Ambassador programme, send a team of community coaches along each week.

The North School’s long-term plan is to continue to expand until there are organised tennis opportunities from Year 7 through to Year 13, with pathways to keep pupils in the sport into adult life.

Kent had three other finalists, all finishing runners-up.

They were Zane Cheeseman (development coach of the year), Craig Allen (performance coach of the year) and Whitstable LTC (tennis for all award).