Teachers and pupils at Grey Court School are celebrating after former pupil, Declan Rice, captained West Ham to victory in the European Conference League.

The Hammers claimed a 2-1 win in the final against Fiorentina in Prague with a stunning runaway goal from Jarrod Bowen in the last minute of normal time.

The triumph was celebrated in a Tweet from Grey Court School, in Ham, where the head of PE Steve Willmore has known Declan from the age of 11.

It said simply: "Congratulations Declan Rice from everyone here at Grey Court. All very proud of you and West Ham."

Speaking of his time at the school, the West Ham and England star, who was born in Kingston, said: "I used to love football at Grey Court, we had one of the best school teams in the country at the time.

The triumph was celebrated in a Tweet from Grey Court School, in Ham, where the head of PE Steve Willmore has known Declan from the age of 11.

"I used to love it so much, I'd try and get the teacher, Mr Willmore, to change the times of the kick off so that I could play for Grey Court before going on to my training session at Chelsea.

"I still speak to Mr Willmore to this day and we're really good friends. He loved it and always tried to get the best out of his teams so I loved school football too.

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"I'll always be thankful to everyone who has helped me along the way over the years to help me achieve my dreams now."

Mr Willmore and the school, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, has been equally delighted with Declan's success.

He said: "You saw something special straight away with Declan. He had two great feet, an amazing work rate and he was a superb talker back then as well.

"He was so confident and led the team so you saw someone in these five-a-side sessions that stood out for many different reasons. We knew we had a talent but when we first saw him in a game, we knew he was special.

"And he was superb and played every game for the school. He wanted to play for the school team as well which was huge for us."

He added: "To have seen this young man grow up and go to the top knowing he started his journey at Grey Court just inspires so many of the kids. It shows them if you work hard you can potentially realise your dreams."