Academic excellence is the passport to “the journey to a brighter future”, a school prize-giving assembly heard last night.The theme of the assembly was highlighted at the Berkeley Institute in Pembroke as the achievements of 148 pupils were marked.Marc Bean, a former leader of the Progressive Labour Party, told the assembly to heed the “still, small voice” inside.Mr Bean, who left Berkeley in 1991, said: “You have two voices within, the voice that tells you to do what you like, and the voice that tells you to do what is right.”He added: “The job of all human beings, young and old, is to know the difference between those two voices.“Always, always, without apology, follow that still, small voice within.“When you learn to trust that still inner voice, you start to know your inner self, you start to commune with your creator.”Mr Bean said it was only his second speaking engagement since he quit politics in 2016, and that both had been at Berkeley.He told pupils: “Think right, speak the truth and do good, and your academic excellence will bear the fruit of the future.”Keisha Douglas, the school’s principal, said that the pupils got awards for academic excellence, leadership, community service and character in the previous academic year.Ms Douglas added: “Berkeleyites, press on. Be the Berkeleyites you were meant to be. We are so proud of you, and the world awaits you.”Jaiden Furbert-Jacobs, the principal’s honour student, said fear of failure “can either hold you back or push you forward”.The S3 student said: “We will all fail at some point in our lives.“It’s what you do after those setbacks that defines who you are.”