For the day, he was the most famous sportsman in the world.

Golfer Louis Oosthuizen had just won the British Open at St Andrews, witnessed by millions across the world.

But the South African was still able to take the time only hours after his triumph to chat to and be pictured with a budding Edinburgh youngster hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Talented golfer, David Li Ferguson had already impressed onlookers at St Andrews with his natural ability before meeting the South African.

It was already shaping up to be a memorable day for five-year-old David Li Ferguson, whose father David Snr was covering the event for Chinese media.

David Li Ferguson was then invited to participate in the prestigious Loretto School Golf Camp.

Jonathan Hewat, Director of External Affairs at Loretto School said, “Loretto School’s Golf Academy were so impressed with his credentials they have asked for David to join them at the next Golf Camp. Loretto Golf Academy is recognized as the top Golf School in the U.K. What better place for David to have his obvious talent nurtured. ”

David’s father said, “It would be great. I know they have a very good golf school at Loretto and he is at the stage where he would certainly benefit from a bit of quality coaching.”

Photo: Five year old David Li Ferguson with Open Championship winner, Louis Oosthuizen

Bedford Modern School Year 12 student, Charlotte Cook and her doubles partner, Lucy Burgess from Runcorn Rowing Club won Gold in the Under 23 Double Sculls and Bronze in the Elite Womens’ Double Sculls at the Great Britain National Rowing Championships held in Strathclyde Park, Scotland over the weekend of 16th to 18th July.

17 year old Charlotte Cook and 16 year old Lucy Burgess led the Under 23 race from the first stroke to the last, winning comfortably ahead of their much older opposition. They then had less than three hours before they took to the water again – this time securing a Bronze Medal just three seconds off clinching another Gold Medal.

As a result of their achievements at the Championship the girls are now off to the Home International Regatta held in Cork, Ireland to represent England at Senior Level before departing for Hazewinkel, Belgium to represent Great Britain at Junior Level in the forthcoming Coupe de la Jeunesse.

Tristan Mayglothling, Head of Girls’ Rowing at Bedford Modern School said: “Charlotte has consistently proven herself against other athletes her own age but has again stepped up a level by taking on and defeating much older and stronger opposition. This highlights the talent Charlotte possesses whilst also giving an indication of the potential for her future rowing.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 12 student Charlotte Cook (left) who won Gold at the Great Britain National Rowing Championships

After only 18 months in a new sport, Worcester Canoe Club member Dan Staines is making rapid progress in the canoe world, but his hopes of future success depend upon securing sponsorship for a kayak, which can support his weight and decrease drag in the water.
Dan, who is a sixth former at RGS Worcester, has made tremendous strides, competing in the top half of national marathon kayak races as well as in individual and team sprint events around the country. But if the course becomes wavy, his current kayak ships water with obvious drastic consequences. In short, he’s a 90kg athlete in a kayak built for only 85kg.
It all started in January 2009 when Dan was selected by Canoe England as part of the Talent Identification scheme to match talented sportsmen to sports that fitted their physical attributes. Since then, Dan has been coached by Nick Fowler, who represented Great Britain for 10 years as a canoeist, and he sees huge potential in his protégé.
“Dan has tremendous promise,” said Mr Fowler. “I sometimes forget that he’s only been in the sport 18 months. As an old philosopher used to say ‘if you shoot for the moon but miss, you still land amongst the stars!’ and this really applies to Dan. There are no limits to his ability in this sport, he will be as good as he wants to be. An immediate goal is to compete at the U23 Championships in 2012.”
Dan trains for 1-1.5 hours on the water everyday, whatever the weather, which means layers and layers of clothing during the worst of the winter. Off the water, he develops stamina through running and puts in tough gym work 3 or 4 times a week at the RGS fitness suite.
“We build strength and endurance during winter and put it into boat speed during spring,” said Dan. “Paddling in the winter can be very difficult as ice builds up on the boat in very cold conditions. But it is worth it as I climb the national rankings. There is the added bonus of warm weather training this summer in Hungary.”
Dan is hopeful that he can raise sufficient funds from sponsors to purchase a more suitable kayak, as he approaches key races, the National Marathon Championships in July and the National Sprint Regatta in September. He needs to find sponsors if he is to maximise his potential and would be delighted to talk to anyone who can help him. Please check out his website to find out more.

Bedford Modern School’s First VIII won the Marlow Regatta at Dorney Lake on Saturday 19th June. This is the first time that BMS has won this event and the crews have shown a huge improvement in their performances since the National Schools Regatta.

Members of the winning First VIII included Robert Bell, Edward Munno, Alex Robertson, William Gale, James Powell, Thomas Sweeting, Matthew Bowman, Greg Edwards and Alistair Redman.

Alistair Brown, Director of Rowing at Bedford Modern School said: “After some disappointment at the National Schools Regatta, it is good to see that BMS confidence is sky high just a week before the Henley Regatta.”

The School competed in a number of other events at the Marlow Regatta on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th, with students ranging from Year 9 to Year 13.

Photo: BMS First VIII win Marlow Regatta

Not satisfied with being National Netball Champions and qualifying for the National Cross Country Finals earlier this year, Bromsgrove School’s Senior Girls have now completed a hat-trick and reached the Field and Track National Athletics Finals where they will represent the Midlands.

After comfortably winning the first round of the English Schools Track and Field competition before half term, the intermediate girls went into the Midlands finals feeling quietly confident. All girls competed extremely well, demonstrated great support and encouragement for each other and pulled together well as a team. By amassing a superb 416 points Bromsgrove beat strong competition from Edgbaston High School for Girls, Loughborough High School, Rugby High School, Shrewsbury High School, Arden School, Stratford upon Avon Grammar School for Girls and RGS Worcester.

Mrs Emma Buckingham, Head of Girls’ Games says “Well done to the team which consisted of Libby Thornton, Simone Thompson-Smith, Jenny Moore, Rachel Elt, Megan Humphreys, Pascale Massey, Sarah Hawkley, Rebecca Straw, Hannah Trow, Tara Thorpe, Lydia Trow, Ellen Lockhart and Georgia Meredith. We now look forward to the National Finals up in Gateshead at the beginning of July.”

Photo: Winning athletics team

Two girls representing Worcester Rowing Club swept to victory in the Under 14 double sculls competition at Stratford upon Avon Regatta at the weekend.

Grace Baker and Izzy Friedlander (both aged 13) attend RGS Worcester and achieved their success in only their third event together.

They beat Gloucester Rowing Club in the first round, then Stratford-upon-Avon Boat Club in the semi-final before overcoming stiff opposition from Evesham Rowing Club in the final to win by a hard-fought one length.

The Peter Chadwick Memorial Cup was presented to them by Nadhim Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-upon-Avon.

Photo: Nadhim Zahawi, MP for Stratford upon Avon presents the cup to Grace and Izzy.

Former King’s School Ely student, Frank Thorogood is in line for a prize worth £50,000 for his invention that could change the way cricket is practised the world over.

He was a keen cricketer during his years at King’s in the 1990s and has created a simple throwing device that recreates the style of a professional bowler.

With endorsements from some famous names, it’s now ready for production.

Frank has entered the device – named Sidearm – in Barclays Business Take One Small Step competition which aims to find people with ambition, passion, and, most importantly, a great business idea.

The winner will be decided by an on-line vote. Frank, an eastern region contender and already in the top three, is rallying support for his invention. Votes must be cast by 15 July.

“My dream is to change the way in which cricket is practised the world over,” he says.

He revealed he had been working on the idea for about 15 months, but it was only when he took it down to Essex CCC at the start of April and Graham Gooch and Grant Flower both gave it rave reviews that he plucked up the courage to invest the money needed to get it into production.

Frank’s day jobs are running a horse feed delivery company and an indoor cricket school as well as working on the family farm during the summer.

You can check out the Sidearm in action and vote for Frank by logging onto

https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/2065

The two students, members of the BMS Ski Team beat the Olympic star, Kwami Na, known as the “Snow Leopard”, who skied for Ghana in the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It crowned a great couple of weeks for Marek who is in his final year at Bedford Modern School, before he gets down to the serious business of preparing for his A Level examinations.

In the British Indoor Grand Prix ski race on 9th May, also held at Milton Keynes Xscape, Marek gained Gold in his age group and finished 2nd overall behind former GB star, Georgie Hunt. In this week’s race Marek was again in the medals gaining Silver.

Not to be out done, following a first ever podium finish in the recent British Indoor Grand Prix Series Ski Race, also held on 9th May at Milton Keynes Xscape, up-and-coming star and Bedford Modern Junior School Year 3 pupil, Dominic Barton achieved a second Bronze medal finish in Sunday’s race.

Further fine performances by Bedford Modern School students came from Year 7 student, Daniel Barton, and Year 9 students, Joe Gee and Oliver Chalkley.

Photo: Marek Behnke

Nathan Morgan, 31, who won the long jump gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, is holding regular workshops with lucky pupils at Mount St Mary’s College.

The first two hour workshop was a practical session focusing on strength and conditioning exercises that Nathan uses everyday as part of his own training regime.

Nathan, a former British record holder and third on the all time long jump list, also stressed the importance of getting this conditioning right before starting any sporting activity.

Nathan will be visiting the school once a month to continue the sessions, which take place on Mondays in the pavilion.

Paul Scott, director of Sport at Mount St Mary’s, said: “The whole workshop was of great benefit to both athletes and coaches and stressed the need for basic strength and conditioning to safeguard the development of young athletes.

“Unsurprisingly the session was extremely well-attended and I’m sure this trend will continue for the upcoming workshops.

“Everyone is very grateful to Nathan for giving up his time and it is a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to learn from one of the best long-jumpers this country has ever seen.”

To coincide with England’s bid for World Cup glory, a Lancashire junior school teacher has penned a personal musical tribute to England’s football heroes, which he hopes will score big for Britain’s injured armed forces’ heroes returning from Afghanistan.

With the help of pupils at Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, sports teacher and aspiring musician, Lawrence Condon has released a World Cup song, with the title: ‘England, My England’, in a bid to highlight the sacrifices being made by the nation’s soldiers abroad and to raise valuable funds for the ‘Help for Heroes’ charity.

Lawrence’s pupils were the inspiration for the song and urged him to write one for the last World Cup. Four years on and just in time for South Africa 2010, ‘England my England’ has been created in a collaboration with British folk, rock band ‘Steeleye Span’ guitarist, Ken Nicol, who produced the song from its raw acoustic version, adding orchestra, drums and chorus. He hopes the song will become an anthem and find its way onto the football terraces of South Africa, but if not, he’ll be more than happy if the public buys the song and it generates cash for Britain’s injured heroes, returning from conflict in Afghanistan.

To help promote the single, a DVD featuring Lawrence and his pupils has been produced by children at Rossall, one of the North West’s oldest independent schools, with some help from the School’s IT department. The backing track features melodies from the early 1960’s hit ‘Telstar’, giving it its infectious chorus that would make an excellent football chant during the current World Cup. And, the children at the school provide a seventy-strong choral backing when the song is played live for visitors to the 166-year-old campus.

Commenting on the launch, Lawrence Condon said: “The children cajoled me into doing something for the World Cup, even though I’m not a professional musician. The result might not be likely to hit the heights of Frank Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’, but if there’s a chance that the public like it and want to support our lads in South Africa then they’ll also be making a valuable contribution to the lives of our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, so hopefully we score either way.”

DVD’s will be on sale at Rossall School from this week with all proceeds from the strictly not for profit song going straight to Help for Heroes.

Photo: Lawrence Condon with some of Rossall School Juniors

A 14 year-old Worcester schoolgirl has realised a sporting ambition, following selection for the full England under 16 Hockey Team.

Sally-Anne Smith, who attends the Royal Grammar School Worcester, has been chosen to play in goal against Scotland, following a rapid climb up the hockey ladder. In only 12 months Sally-Anne has gone from playing local club hockey to reaching the giddy heights of representing her country, in a story that reads like a Hollywood script.

Her first love was football and she has spent the last three years playing in the Kidderminster Harriers Centre of Excellence Academy. At her primary school, RGS The Grange, she used to be an outfield player for her school hockey side. As no-one was keen to play in goal, she filled in for a school match. Following an exceptional performance, Liz Bussey, her coach of the time, immediately saw real potential and started to help develop her goalkeeping skills.

From those early days Sally-Anne has enjoyed a meteoric rise, winning entry to the County’s Junior Development Centre at Nunnery Wood, playing for Dudley Hockey Club and latterly Stourport Hockey Club.

In May 2009 Sally-Anne was selected to attend the U15 Junior Performance Centre, which selects hockey players nationwide. From here the players were whittled down to the best eight goalkeepers in the country. They attended a Hi-Performance weekend camp at Leeds University last October, under the exacting eyes of the England selectors.

In May 2010 Sally-Anne received an invitation to train with the U16 England Team, even though she’s still only 14. “It was nerve-racking when I attended the training session at Lilleshall, because I was the youngest there,” explains Sally-Anne. “But I put my whole heart into it and during the day I played well and became more confident. I received an email three days later to say I’d made the team and I was over the moon. I feel privileged to represent my country in a sport I love.”

Stuart Davis, Head of Hockey at RGS Worcester put her achievement into perspective. “Many people don’t appreciate the deep pool of talent in girls’ hockey, which Sally-Anne has battled through to reach the highest level. Her progress has been staggering. I wish her further success in the future and we all look forward to seeing her play against Scotland at the end of June.”

Bedford Modern School repeated the success of last year by reaching the Final of the ESSA (English Schools’ Swimming Association) U16 Waterpolo Plate Competition recently and went one better this year by winning the competition and becoming Champions.

In a revamped format there were six teams from around the country competing at the Final. Two leagues of three were played out to find the semi-finalist and then the competition changed to a straight knockout. In the League, Bedford Modern School finished second having to come from behind in both games to secure draws. With 40 seconds left in the second game against Monmouth School, BMS were two goals down and out of the reckoning until Bedford Modern School Year 10 students, Jason Attwood and Sam Lourensz both scored excellent goals.

The Semi-Final was against the winners of the other League, Canon Slade School from Bolton. They boasted the England U16 goalkeeper but without a decent defence he was no match for the BMS shooters and the School quickly raced into a four goal lead and ran out comfortable winners 8-4.

The Final proved to be a re-match of the opening game against City of London School. This time Bedford Modern School scored first to settle the nerves and although City pulled level, BMS turned round 3-1 courtesy of goals from student, Darren Norman (Year 11) and a sweet penalty from Jason Attwood. By the last minute, City were back in it with scores level at four apiece. Thankfully both Jason and Darren were on target again and Bedford Modern School deservedly won 6-4.

Jason who top scored with hat-tricks in two of the four games is currently in the England Youth Academy squad whilst goalkeeper, Ruaidhri Meghen (Year 10) has been selected to represent Ireland at Youth level.

Photo: Bedford Modern School’s winning U16 Waterpolo Boys’ Team: William Lowerson (Captain), Robert Lowerson, Andrew Turner, William Simpson, William Stupple, Lawrence Kedward, Howard Friman, Jason Attwood, Sam Lourensz, Darren Norman and Ruaidhri Meghen.

Bedford Modern School’s Cricket Captain, George Thurstance, has been selected to play for the county against Buckinghamshire. This is fairly unique and the last Bedford Modern School student to achieve this feat was Monty Panesar, who later went on to play for England.
18 year old George, who lives in Silsoe, has been in great form this season, scoring two unbeaten centuries and taking wickets with his leg spin.
Nigel Chinneck, Bedford Modern School Master in Charge of the First XI said: “As a School we are delighted for George who thoroughly deserves his chance as he has worked very hard to achieve this high level of performance, also it is pleasing to see the selectors are putting faith in the county’s younger players.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School’s Cricket Captain, George Thurstance, who has been selected for Bedfordshire

Ellie Scarff, a local girl from Colwyn Bay has hit the big time with a personal invitation from the Lawn Tennis Association to join their training camp this week and potentially start a future as a serious British contender in tennis. Nick Lawrence, a North Wales Performance Manager for the Welsh National Tennis Centre recently described her as “one of the emerging young talents in North Wales”. Her coach for three years Martyn Lewis , who is an LTA professional says of Ellie “She is No 1 ranked player in Under 12 in North Wales and is very likely to be a Welsh Finalist this year”.

From joining Rydal Penrhos Prep school from the age of three Ellie has been a keen tennis player and swimmer. At four she added ballet and tap to her portfolio and then at six progressed to hockey and netball. At present Ellie puts around 16 hours a week into training, which is supported in school and through outside organisations.

Ellie has been with the junior academy of the Colwyn Bay Hockey club for three years and regularly plays for the girls u11 team and the boys u11 team (as they are allowed two girls to play). Indeed last year she was voted best u10 girl for the season by her coaches.

It was in 2007 when at the age of just seven the Rydal Penrhos Prep girl started to take tennis to a new level when she was asked to play both singles and doubles for the U10 North Wales girls team. She started to win and got a taste for competitive sport. By 2008 Ellie played for the county again and started to play for the Rydal Penrhos Senior girls tennis team despite the fact she was only eight. By 2009 Ellie was ranked no 1 player for North Wales County team 10U.

Ellie says “My sports are a huge part of my everyday life, and I am at my happiest when I am out on court or on the sports field.” Ellie’s mum goes on to say “She is a lovely bubbly girl who tries hard at everything she sets out to do. She balances her sport with academic studies and I am delighted to say she had straight A’s across all subjects in her last school report.”

Ellie who is the head girl at the Rydal Penrhos Prep school at present has just won a sports scholarship to Rydal Penrhos senior school and sets her ambitions high. This year she would like to move up the GB and Welsh rankings at 12U level and feels with the continued support of both the school and the LTA coaches Martyn Lewis and Nick Lawrence with whom she is working very closely that she can continue to improve and develop as a player.

Up and coming ski talent Ella Ward capped a fantastic team performance by Rydal Penrhos School with a third place at the British Inter-Schools Skiing Championships in France last week.

Ella, 11 was joined on the prize-winners’ podium by younger sister Olivia, 9, who came home in fifth place, while the Rydal Penrhos team as a whole finished a hugely impressive eighth out of the 140 schools taking part.

The annual championships, which take place in Les Houches near Chamonix, feature more than 350 of the best young British skiers from across the UK, France and Switzerland.

Rydal Penrhos team coach Craig Bonnington, who has raced internationally for the RAF, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement for Ella, Olivia and the whole team. The competition is incredibly tough because a lot of skiers at the top end of the field are based permanently in the Alps for the ski season.

“Meantime Rydal Penrhos manages one training session a week on the John Nike Leisuresport artificial slope in Llandudno. It’s a great facility to have on the doorstep and the instructors there are very supportive of the team, but it’s not quite the same as race training day in day out on the real stuff all winter.

“Ella’s third place, Olivia’s fifth and the team’s eighth places are a tribute to a lot of hard work and no little talent.”

The team immediately dedicated their result to Rydal Penrhos teacher Ken Jones, who organised the trip. Mr Jones broke his leg in an accident at the end of the first day’s racing and is still in hospital in France recovering.

Mr Bonnington added: “It’s such a shame for him. He’s been organising the team all year and getting ready for this competition. We’re all thinking of him and looking forward to seeing back home soon.”

41 pupils and 6 staff enjoyed a fantastic week on Oswestry School’s annual snowsport trip to the Aosta valley in NW Italy.

Throughout the week snow conditions were perfect for beginners, intermediate, advanced skiers and boarders alike. The 4* Hotel Norden Palace was a welcome haven for rest and recuperation for tired bodies at the end of each day and it provided excellent silver service restaurant facilities. A busy après-ski programme was enjoyed by everyone, highlights being ice-skating, bowling and the ever popular disco.

Two year 12 pupils have been selected to attend the Interski Scholarship selection day at Chill Factor, Trafford Park, with the possibility of going on to take an instructors’ course.

Parkside School, based in Stoke D’Abernon, has regained the Epsom College Super Teams trophy for the 10th year in a row. The school entered teams in the U9, U11 and U13 age categories with all boys performing extremely well, notching up points in the swimming, football, hockey, distance running, sprints, basketball and gym tests. Parkside took 1st place in the U9 and U11 age groups, 2nd place in a competitive U13 age group and finished in 1st place in the overall competition.

Further success came as Parkside won the Seven Schools trophy this year with a strong performance by the entire athletics team. The school took the title after five years of dominance from Frensham based school Edgeborough.

Eight individual winners and wins in the U10 and U12 relays ensured Parkside finished top of all competing schools at the event, held at The Spectrum Centre in Guildford. Aldro School was 2nd and Edgeborough took 3rd place.

Congratulations goes to Parkside’s winners: Harry Thursfield, U10 600m, Alfie Bloomfield, U10 Cricket Ball Throw, Sergui Celebidachi, U10 High Jump, Charlie Kerslake, U12 Shot Put, James Odunsi, U12 70m Hurdles, Oscar Newson-Smith, U14 Triple Jump and 800m.

Nick Embling also took 1st place in the 1500m, breaking the Spectrum record which was set in 1984!

The boys put in another exceptional performance at this year’s IAPS National Swimming Championships held at the K2 Centre in Crawley last month. Ian Stamp, director of sports at Parkside said, “We had more Parkside boys taking part in individual races at this national event than ever before, which demonstrates the depth of swimmers the school now has.” All Parkside boys swim every week in the school’s indoor swimming pool under the instruction of top class coaches.

Congratulations to the U12 team who came third overall to clinch the bronze medal in the Freestyle relay and Max Herne who took the bronze medal in the 25m Freestyle.
Parkside’s Tennis teams have also been outclassing their rivals with the U9 team through to the Surrey Schools League semi finals and the U10’s beating all opponents in their path to reach the finals at the end of June. The school’s U11 team will play Kings School later on this month to see who makes it to the final.

Parkside, renowned for its excellent sporting reputation, has also been hosting its own tennis tournament – ‘Road to Wimbledon’ which has seen boys taking part in matches during their break and lunchtimes. The final will see brothers, Ben and Jack Draper, go head to head. The winner will represent Parkside at county level.

Photo: Parkside School’s swimming team took part in the IAPS National Swimming Championships held at the K2 Centre Crawley last month.

Two budding journalists from Prior Park have bagged the title of ‘Tamezin’s Young Journalist of the Year Award 2010’.

This year’s theme was ‘Inspirational Interviews’, for which winners Tony Heaton, 14, and Emma Clague, 15, interviewed an individual with a fascinating story and wrote it up into an article. Tony Heaton interviewed Polish war hero, Lieutenant Witold Brocki, whilst Emma Clague spoke to Polly Bates, a paediatric oncology doctor who treats under 18 leukaemia and cancer sufferers.

The students were picked out of a large number of young writers across Britain. Toby Heaton won First Prize in the junior category and Emma Clague won First Prize in the senior section. Both winners were awarded certificates, cash prizes and Emma Clague has also won a work experience opportunity for this summer.

This annual competition is run by Tamezin, a national lifestyle magazine and aims to encourage the young writers of tomorrow. The Award Ceremony took place earlier this month at the Kensington Close Hotel and was presented by Cassandra Jardine of the Daily Telegraph and freelance writer Greg Watts.

Headmaster, James Murphy O’Connor, comments:
“The students were encouraged to enter the competition by our Head of English, Nigel Tattersfield, as we want them to develop their existing writing skills. Emma and Toby chose and interviewed two inspirational people and told their story compassionately; congratulations to them for their efforts. We hear that Emma may be going to BBC News 24 for work experience this summer, which is a great foot in the door, and we look forward to hearing all about it.”
 

Strathallan pupil Duncan Scott achieved outstanding results at the Scottish National Age-Group Championships at Tollcross winning eight individual medals and three relay medals.

Duncan who is pictured here with coach Elaine Johnston also achieved six personal best times and was Scottish National Age-Group Champion in the 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 individual medley for 11/12 age group.

“Duncan swam extremely well over the four day meet and his hard work continues to produce excellent results” said Strathallan swim team coach Elaine Johnston

Bedford Modern School Year 13 students Greg Edwards and James Powell, who are part of the School’s 1st VIII crew, were selected to represent Great Britain at the Munich European Regatta that took place over the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th May.

For 18 year old James, this was the first time he had represented Great Britain. Greg and James won Gold in the VIII in a closely fought race against Spain on Saturday. They also won on the Sunday, in a Coxless Four, against strong European competition.

Whilst Greg and James were competing in Munich, Bedford Modern School Year 12 student Charlotte Cook was selected to compete in the Ghent Regatta in Belgium. 17 year old Charlotte managed to scoop two Golds on consecutive days’ rowing in the Women’s Junior Quad.

All three BMS students are now very much looking forward to competing in the 147th Bedford Regatta taking place on Saturday 15th May and, more importantly, the National Schools’ Regatta held in Nottingham at the end of the month.

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 13 student, James Powell, with his Gold Medal from the Munich Regatta

Strathallan Equestrian Teams excelled at the annual Scottish Schools Equestrian Championships at Gleneagles.

The Intermediate Team of Jenny Summersgill, Emma Cheape, Rosie Williams and Sarah Cheape won the dressage and show jumping events and were overall winners.

In the Senior Section Heather Larson, Corrie Stewart, Flora Hay and Olivia Woodes-Rogers won the Show jumping event and came overall second.

Around 100 girls and boys from Bedford Modern School took part in the Bedford Regatta on Saturday 15th May. The support from staff and parents was outstanding and definitely contributed towards some great BMS performances.

The result of the day came from the Year 9 BMS boys competing in the U14 Octuple who, against tough competition, made it through to the Final to race against Bedford School. The Final was watched by a very interested Bedford community and saw Bedford Modern School winning in style. The U14 Octuple comprised Owen Thornton, Joe Bennison, James Berry, Nick Clark, Adam Dingley, Josh Webley, Henk Kroon, Connor Hayward and Gavin McWilliams (cox), coached by Doug Barrell.

This is the first ever win for the Year 9 boys who were ecstatic at their victory and hence, as a rowing tradition, threw their cox through the air into the River Great Ouse.

Other notable Bedford Modern School victories came from the Year 10 boys in a Coxed Quad who fought very well against tough competition. The Coxed Quad consisted of Jack Lundgren, Matthew Smith, Glenn Tamkin and Robin Harvey and David Sillars (cox), coached by Alex Chetwynd. “I would also like to draw attention to the number of BMS girls competing at the Bedford Regatta. The atmosphere was amazing and it was a great day for BMS Rowing”, said Alistair Brown, Director of Rowing at the School.

The support at 3.00pm for the BMS versus Eton race in Junior 18 VIIIs was incredible and it was a real boost for all the Bedford Modern School squads. The BMS squad consisted of Greg Edwards (Year 13), Matthew Bowman (Year 12), Thomas Sweeting (Year 11), James Powell (Year 13), William Gale (Year 12), Edward Munno (Year 11), Andy Taylor (Year 11), Robert Bell (Year 12) and cox, Alistair Redman (Year 12). “This was one of the most anticipated races of the day and this win took Bedford Modern School through to the Final. Thank you to all supporters,” added Alistair Brown.

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 9 squad who competed in the U14 Octuple (L-R: Owen Thornton, Joe Bennison, James Berry, Nick Clark, Adam Dingley, Josh Webley, Henk Kroon, Connor Hayward and Gavin McWilliams (cox)

Former Bedford Modern School student, Alex Hoppenbrouwers, has successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Alex reached the summit via the Machame route as opposed to the easier Marangu route.

“I landed at Kilimanjaro airport and was taken to Moshi, a small town in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. The next day, after being taken to the Machame gate at the bottom of Kilimanjaro, I started my ascent to Machame Camp. As it was the rainy season, there was torrential rain for the majority of the day but it is far less busy in the rainy season, with approximately 3% of those people who climb at high season,” said Alex.

The ascent to the first camp took six hours through the rainforest before reaching Machame Camp at 3,000m and sleeping in tents. By the end of the second day, Alex had managed to climb above the cloud level thereby no longer being affected by the rain but sacrificing an absence of rain for a considerable drop in temperatures.

On the third day, Alex began the ascent to Lava Tower at 4,600 metres before descending to the camp at Baranco which stands at 3,940 metres. It is important to ascend and then descend as this aids acclimatisation to prevent altitude sickness.

Day four saw an ascent through the alpine desert to Barafu Camp at 4,600m which was an extremely barren and cold landscape solely comprised of rocks. Later that night there were a few hours of sleep before beginning the final ascent to the summit. “When we started the ascent it was the hardest thing of all and took every ounce of strength. A colleague compared it to walking on the moon as you struggle to take every breath and your pace is terribly slow”, said Alex.

“We finally reached the summit which was a great feeling of elation at 6.50am to see the sunrise which was an awe inspiring sight. From the summit at Uhuru peak you could clearly see the whole of Mount Meru which is 45 miles away from Mount Kilimanjaro. I would highly recommend climbing Mount Kilimanjaro but certainly do not underestimate it!” added Alex.

Alex completed the climb in six days and, so far, has managed to raise approximately £1,000.00 for Help For Heroes. If you would like to assist Alex in supporting the charity please visit the JustGiving website at www.justgiving.com/alexhoppy

The cost of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was raised by Alex himself whilst working as a waiter earlier this year which means that all funds raised will go direct to the Help For Heroes charity. Alex has been offered a place at University College London to read Pharmacology that he will take up later this year.

Photo: Former Bedford Modern School student Alex Hoppenbrouwers who successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for charity

Sixteen-year-old Chris Aniskowicz set a record when he scored the fastest 100 in the history of King’s School Ely cricket.

In a 1st XI home match against Kimbolton School, he scored a brilliant 129 off 43 balls, the second 50 off just 17 balls. The innings included ten sixes and 13 fours.

Chris’ record-breaking performance wasn’t quite enough to seal with match which Kimbolton won by four wickets.

King’s coach, Kevin Shaw, said: “Despite losing it was a great game to start the season and a fantastic performance by Chris who batted at number six.

“It followed a very successful pre-season tour to the Serious Cricket Centre in Basingstoke and Lord’s where the lads received video analysis from the Hawkeye technology used in Test matches.”

King’s scored 254 for 8 in 35 overs and Kimbolton 258 for 6 (33.5 overs).

Photo: King’s School Ely record-breaking batsman, Chris Aniskowicz.

King’s School Ely pupils won ten medals at the Cambridgeshire Club Athletics Championships at St Ives Outdoor Centre. It was the school’s best ever medal performance at the championships.

Star of the day was double gold medallist Joe Lines who took first place in two under-17 throws events, winning the discus final with 32m 13cm and the javelin with 35m. Fellow King’s javelin prospect, Michael Burnford, took the under-17 bronze medal with a 31m 13cm throw.

Flavia Kumar was also a double medal winner. She won gold in the under-17 triple jump with 9m 37cm and bronze in the under-17 javelin with a 20metre 68cm throw.

There were also silver medals in the under-17 100m hurdles final for Robert West who came second on 16.8 seconds and for Hugo Bryan in the under-20 110metre hurdles final coming second in 20.3 seconds.

Three of the medals were won by promising King’s Junior School athletes. Thirteen-year-old Gemma Gow, competing against older girls in under-15 events, won a silver medal in the under-15 long jump with 4metres 21 centimetres.

There was also a silver medal for Alice Harris who came second in the under-13 70m hurdles final in 14.9 seconds and India Baynes who won a bronze medal in the under-13 800 metres final in 2.49.3.

Photo:: King’s School Ely double gold medallist Joe Lines.

Two local pupils emerged from a strong field to win the J14 Double Sculls event at last weekend’s Worcester Regatta.

Ben Collins and Harry Turner, who attend RGS Worcester, beat rivals from Stourport Boat Club in a pulsating final, winning by just half a length at the finishing line.

RGS had tasted earlier success with Andy Dowty and Robin Hearn dominating the J17 Double Sculls event and comfortably winning their final.

In the afternoon, Alex Brockington and Angus Wiltshire overcame all opposition to set up an all-RGS final of the Boys J16 Single Sculls; it was Brockington who ran out the winner, by a margin of one and a half lengths.
At Shrewsbury a week earlier, the same situation arose in the final of J14 sculls, where Richard Stevens beat Ben Collins in an all-RGS final.
The Boat Club’s squads are out in force this weekend at the National Schools Regatta in Nottingham, where the School is entering four VIIIs, five Coxed Fours, a Coxless Pair and a Single Scull.

Photo: The winning RGS J14 Pair, Harry Turner and Ben Collins, being presented with their trophies by Bob Pritchard, Chairman of Worcester Rowing Club.

Four Stonyhurst College hockey players have been selected to play for Lancashire. Jessica Pye was selected for the U17s, Clare Lupton for the U16s, and Emily Smith and Helen Finn for the U15s.
Emily and Helen played in the Lancashire U15 1st team on Sunday 2nd May, and won the North of England County Tournament. The team scored a total of 36 goals, conceding only 3; they beat Yorkshire 7-0 in the final game and may now go forward to play the winners of the Southern County Tournament, watched by National coaches.

Photo: Jessica Pye

Christ College pupil Josceline Beaumont is being tipped for the top in the sport of shooting, and is setting her sights on Commonwealth Games glory in 2014.

Josceline has been fast-tracked as a future British Olympian after being hand-picked to join the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative. Josceline will receive a cash injection of £1000 towards training and competing after being selected as one of only 270 youngsters from across the UK.

Josceline attended the Cardiff launch of the initiative at the Welsh Institute of Sport earlier this month where she received a masterclass from former British Olympians Iwan Thomas and Leon Taylor.

Josceline said: “Last year I shot for Great Britain twice, against South Africa and Germany, and I am hoping to represent Great Britain again this year. If I do, it would be great to have some success against the best shooters around.”

She added: “Initially I’m looking at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as being a major possibility for me.”

The funding from the Local Heroes Initiative will help Josceline with equipment costs, accommodation and travel and is designed to ensure that more talent reaches the top whilst easing the financial burden placed on parents.

Iwan Thomas, one of Wales’ most recognisable sporting personalities said:”The funding from Lloyds TSB will be a great boost for athletes like Josceline and it will hopefully help them to achieve their true potential.”

The Lloyds TSB initiative in partnership with SportsAid provides support and funding to Great Britain’s most talented developing athletes on their journey to London 2012 and beyond.

Lottie Van-Praag, Year 10, and Sophie Coombes-Roberts, Year 11, represented Wales in the Women’s U19 Lacrosse Home International Championship at Cardiff University in March. The girls both played extremely well, resulting in their selection to play for the Wales Senior Women’s B Team at the Home Internationals in Edinburgh on the 17th and 18th April. Sophie scored twice against England and they both achieved hat-tricks against Ireland. Lottie won 80% of the centre draws in both matches. The girls were the youngest ever to represent Wales in a Senior International game.

Head of Sports, Mrs Karen Bevan, said, ‘Both Sophie and Lottie have exceeded all expectations in their first full season competing at this very high level. We are very proud of their achievements so far and look forward to following and supporting their progress in the future’.

In one of the highlights of their sporting year, RGS Worcester defeated five schools, including Eton College, in a major fixture at Nunnery Wood athletics complex.

Throughout a seesaw competition, RGS and Eton dominated proceedings during the afternoon. Eton secured strong wins in the 200m, 400m and long jump. But RGS took seven events in total and proved irresistible in winning all but one of the field events. This included a double for Adam Damadzic in the shot and discus, which was capped by a throw of over 50 metres in the discus.

Toby Wilkinson kept up the RGS momentum in the javelin with a superb throw of 50.65 metres, Steve Ndumbe won the triple jump with an impressive 13.74 metres and Laurie Greenway took the high jump. The RGS relay rounded things off with victory in the 4 x100m, which saw them, home 290 points to 268.

“It’s always daunting to face Eton. With over 1,300 boys they are almost double our size and we know that competition throughout all the events will be extremely tough, “ said the RGS Head of Athletics Mike Ridout. “This was a real team effort, with some excellent performances and I’m tremendously proud of the whole team.”

During the same afternoon, the RGS girl’s teams swept the board in the U15, U17 and Senior competitions, beating schools from Cheltenham, Malvern and Solihull in the process.

Photo: Laurie Greenway from RGS Worcester wins the high jump.

A Derbyshire pupil is following in the footsteps of some of the most renowned fencers from the past 20 years after winning a prestigious regional prize.

James Proudfoot, head boy at Mount St Mary’s College, fought off stiff competition to take home the winner’s shield in the Lancashire Schools Boys’ Under 20 Foil.

James, who won gold in the Senior Students Fencing competition at Stonyhurst school in Lancashire last term, adds his name to a list of illustrious previous winners of the shield who have gone on to enjoy successful careers in the sport.

Fellow pupil Thomas Cotterill, winner of the Mount St Mary’s Senior Fencing Trophy for 2009, secured silver and Thomas Voice won bronze in the same event, while Benedikt Gers reached the quarter finals of the boys under 17 category.

There was success too for the girls, with Phoebe Lui winning a bronze medal in the under 20 class.

Pupils at Mount St Mary’s have enthusiastically embraced fencing, and the performances in Lancashire are the latest in a series of impressive displays from school representatives.

Nina Zimmerman produced a spirited display against high calibre opposition including several national fencers in the Girls’ Under 16 Foil at the recent British Youth Fencing Championships.

Nina, a year 10 pupil at the Mount, qualified for the competition after fighting her way to a bronze in the Girls Under 16 Foil at the Yorkshire Youth Championships in March.
Mount St Mary’s coach Adam Blight, who has experience of coaching nine British fencing champions, said: “Congratulations to James for an excellent display of fencing. Many esteemed fencers have won the shield in the past, and hopefully James can use this success as a springboard to take his fencing to the next level.

“Our pupils have secured some outstanding results recently. They have all displayed an exemplary coolness and professionalism in competition which will continue to serve them well in the future.”

Photo: Lancashire Schools Boys’ Under 20 Foil winner James Proudfoot

Six Strathallan pupils enjoyed a successful tournament at the annual Glenalmond Mixed Doubles Tournament winning the overall trophy.

Ruairidh Watson and Lea Gill won all matches in their group and the Group A Trophy while Christian Kolb and Anastasiya Veretennikova won the Group B Trophy.

Strathallan Tennis Academy Coach Tommy Ogilvie said “I am delighted with the result. The team have a really positive attitude and have worked hard this year to produce this result.”

Photo: winning team

RGS crews in action at Evesham Regatta – first ever wins for Rachel and Grace

Fourteen boats from all age-groups raced at Evesham Regatta last Saturday, and RGS Worcester came away with two wins and several other encouraging performances. Twenty more boats would have raced on the Sunday as well, but heavy overnight rain caused the Sprint regatta to be cancelled.
The Senior RGS Girls raced well in Coxed Fours; the more experienced boat competed in WJ18 Fours, losing out narrowly to a Pangbourne College Four in a hard-fought final. The younger crew (Lucy Sidwell, Michaela Belham, Julia Davies, Rachel Turner, coxed by Grace Jones) raced in an adult category, beating two club crews to take the trophy. This was a first ever win for Rachel and Grace.
The RGS Senior Girls eight also won their event in fine style. The winning crew was Lucy Sidwell, Michaela Belham, Catherine Field, Rachel Turner, Ros Goldrick, Sophie Stevens, Julia Davies, Patsi Walton and cox Luke Thomas.
The Boys’ J15s raced in two different VIIIs categories; in the adult Novice event they were inevitably a little out of their depth, but against their counterparts from Cheltenham College they competed strongly, only to miss out in the final stages.
The Senior Boys also had to contend with strong Pangbourne crews: the Coxed Four lost a straight final, whilst the VIII produced a powerful performance in the Semi-final to beat Monmouth School by several lengths, only to succumb to Pangbourne’s top boat in the final.

Photo; The winning RGS Coxed Fours – Lucy Sidwell, Michaela Belham, Julia Davies, Rachel Turner, coxed by Grace Jones.

A highly respected karate coach has created a little piece of history with a 100% yellow belt pass rate at a local school.

In all,16 pupils from RGS Springfield, based at Britannia Square in Worcester, passed their yellow belt karate test with flying colours. This is only the second time to have happened during the long career of karate coach Tony Johnson. One pupil, Jasmine Randle, has progressed so well she achieved a double-grading and passed the orange belt test!

“Their 100% pass rate is extremely rare – in fact only twice in the 30 years that I’ve taught karate,” said Tony Johnson, who is a Karate Sixth Dan Grand Master (6th Dan Kong Sudo, 6th Dan Ko Am and UK Instructor).

“I have to say a huge well done to the children at Springfield. They all have the ability to go right through to becoming black belts, which says a great deal about their application. They are a pleasure to teach and I look forward to every session. In fact, their learning rate is so fast that I may have to re-think my syllabus!”

The ages of the children ranges from 6-11 and they all started with no karate experience whatsoever. The club runs as an after school activity and was introduced by the school to give pupils a taster of some of the less well-known sports.

“I love doing Karate with Master Johnson because he makes it so much fun” says Niamh Colclough.

“When I got my Yellow belt I was very excited and wanted to learn more” says Tessa Wareing.

“Karate is a fun sport, especially when you get up to a higher level” says Kezia Jordan.

Bedford Modern School Year 10 student, Raeshan Downer, has been selected as a member of the England Handball Association’s National Youth Squad’s programme. Raeshan will be involved in a preparation camp on 5th June in Warrington in readiness for the Olympic Solidarity Training Camp and Partille Cup, taking place in Sweden from Sunday 27th June until Monday 12th July.

The Partille Cup is the World’s largest Youth Handball Tournament. Preparation camps also allow members of the England National Youth Squad to train with other young players from as far away as China and Brazil.

“Handball is a mixture of four different sports including hockey, basketball, football and rugby. It is played on a court either indoors or outdoors. The hockey element is with the goal, the basketball element is in the dribbling, rugby brings the contact aspect and football brings the skill to the game,” said Raeshan.

Raeshan trains with the Bedford Hawks every Saturday morning and at Cranfield University on Sunday mornings. “Games last an hour and are split into two half-hour segments. At student level, matches are usually played over 25 minutes each way. A handball team consists of seven players; six outfield and one goalkeeper. Teams pass a ball to throw it into the goal of their opponent’s team. I really like the speed and adrenaline rush that comes from taking part in each handball game,” added Raeshan.

Patrick Jerram, Director of Sport at Bedford Modern School said, “Representing your country is a great honour and I am delighted for Raeshan. Whilst handball is not one of our bigger team sports in this country, it is very popular around the world and hopefully Raeshan will get the opportunity to compete on this international stage.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 10 student Raeshan Downer

The U14 Rugby team enjoyed a very successful Easter tour to Italy, staying at Lido di Jesolo, near Venice. Training sessions on the beach paid off as they won 3 of their 4 games.
The tour also included cultural visits to Venice, the chance to watch some professional rugby at a match between Treviso and Viadana and a trip to the Gardaland theme park. Everyone enjoyed the excellent hospitality of the Italian rugby clubs and huge thanks go to Mr Thomas and Mr McGinnis for organising the tour, and to Mr Ansell for acting as translator!

Results:
Stonyhurst vs Montebelluna RFC- won 17-14
Stonyhurst vs Valdobbiadane RFC- won 26-10
Stonyhurst vs Piave RFC- lost 12-21
Stonyhurst vs Paese RFC- won 38-14

Photo: The Stonyhurst and Valdobbiadane teams

Thirteen-year-old King’s School Ely pupil Zach Binge has been selected by the Independent Schools Football Association to attend an ISFA under-14 development camp at Bradfield School in July.

His selection follows an outstanding performance at an ISFA development camp at Repton during the Easter holidays when 42 under-14 players from independent schools all over the country were selected to play matches against Football League clubs.

Zach was goalkeeper in a match against Derby County development squad players and put up an impressive performance which helped the ISFA team to a 5-2 victory.

*Two King’s sixth formers, Sam Hulme and Jacob O’Connor, were among 21 ‘young leaders’ from eight different schools who attended the first ISFA Leadership and Volunteering Camp held at St Bede’s School in Sussex. They attended sessions on 5-11 coaching, refereeing and organisation with tutors provided by the Football Association.

On Friday 30 April, Caterham School held a celebration dinner which was attended by 120 students, teachers and parents.

The ‘black tie’ dinner was held to celebrate an excellent year of sport and the guest speaker was Holly McGarvie who is one of the world’s leading lacrosse players and winner of a World Cup Gold Medal with the USA team in 2009. Holly is coaching in the in the UK at the moment.

The two other speakers were students Ben Lewis and Loulou Rowlands.

Awards were given to Chris Kendell (rugby player of the season), James Hutchings (hockey player of the season), Joe McLaren (clubman of the year), Michela Scarpa (netball player of the season), Hannah Wright (Anne Collins Lacrosse Trophy), Loulou Rowlands (club woman of the year)

Director of Sport Rob Clarke said: ‘It was thrilling for all of us to hear a speech by one of the world’s top sportswomen. She is a fantastic role model for all our sports players having been to Princeton University and being voted the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2006 and then the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2009. No one could fail to be impressed by her consistency and commitment. I am sure that she will have inspired all of those attending.’

PHOTO: Sophie Colman, Hannah Wright, Loulou Rowlands and Holly McGarvie

Haileybury, a co-educational independent boarding school in Hertfordshire, is to host eight tennis players from Eastern Africa next week. The students are from Malezi School in Kenya, and are making history as the first from the
region to travel on a tennis exchange with schools in the United Kingdom.

This maiden trip, which will be the first of many, is sponsored by Virgin
Atlantic and SKAL, and will see the Malezi School team visit and play
against UK’s top tennis schools as part of developing new partnerships
between top tennis schools in England and Malezi School.

The school has topped Kenyan tennis for the past 11 years and most
of its former players (like former junior champions Rahab Mbugua,
Maurice Wamukowa and Terry and Joab Odera) are studying in the US on
tennis scholarships. One of the visitors to the UK, Azisa Butoyi, is the reigning KCB Kenya Open ladies singles champion, while the rest of the team comprises the top players in Kenya.

“This exciting trip will also have players participate in the Wimbledon
Junior Tennis Initiative as well as touring the National Tennis Centre at
Roehampton and the Wimbledon Tennis Museum,” explains Dr Liz Odera, the team’s coach.

The visitors will take on Haileybury’s top players on Saturday, 15 May between 10 am and 12 noon at the Hailey Lane tennis courts.

Bedford Modern School students and brothers, George and Harry Thurstance have reason to celebrate after they both scored undefeated centuries in the School’s cricket match away at Haileybury School on Saturday 24th April.

Year 13 student, George who joined the School in Year 4, plays for Bedford Modern School’s 1st XI Cricket Team. “”Scoring 133 not out was my highest ever score for the BMS 1st Team. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at BMS, especially the sports and would recommend other students to try all the sports available and see what suits them most,” said George.

15 year old brother, Harry, scored 100 not out and plays for the BMS U15 Cricket Team. Harry, who is in Year 10, joined the School in Year 3, and in 2008 was awarded the Tour Award for Batting whilst taking part in the School’s U13 Cricket Tour to Dublin.

Paul Woodroffe, Director of Cricket at Bedford Modern School commented, “This event is unique in my experience. George and Harry have worked really hard over the winter on their batting and hopefully this is just the start of a fantastic summer for them both.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School’s budding cricketers, Harry (left) and George (right) Thurstance

A Derbyshire/Spinkhill pupil will compete alongside some of the finest young fencers in the country at a prestigious national championship this weekend.

Nina Zimmerman, a year 10 boarding student at Mount St Mary’s College, will represent her school at the British Youth Fencing Championships to be held at the English Institute of Sport – Sheffield.

The event, which takes place from May 1-3, will showcase the very best young swordsmen and women in Great Britain, with national and county fencers among those taking part.

Nina qualified for the competition after fighting her way to a bronze in the Girls Under 16 Foil at the Yorkshire Youth Championships in March.

Mount St Mary’s coach Adam Blight, who has experience of coaching nine British fencing champions, said: “To qualify for such a prominent competition is a fantastic achievement for Nina and I’m sure she will relish testing herself against some very strong fencers.

“Nina has a lot of talent and this experience will be another big step in her development. We all wish her the very best of luck in the championships.”
Fencers at the Mount are beginning to make their mark at regional and national level, and a strong performance at the Lancashire Schools Foil saw the school pick up four medals in its first ever regional competition.

Photo: Nina with her bronze medal after the Yorkshire Youth Championships

Pupils at Oswestry School have the chance to learn a new sport, thanks to a partnership with the Oswestry Fencing Club.

Club coaches Bridie Lloyd and Tom Gulliver visit the school on Thursday afternoons to teach the skills of fencing to a group of 16 pupils, as part of their out of hours learning programme.

‘The club has proved very popular and we have a waiting list of pupils who want to join,’ said Oswestry School Director of Sport, Darren Hollingsworth. ‘We are very pleased that we have the opportunity to offer fencing as part of the alternative sports curriculum and we are glad that we can work with the Oswestry Fencing Club in this way.’

Following its success last year, the Warriors Charity Challenge (Worcester Warriors Staff v Worcestershire Teachers) will take place on the main pitch at Sixways on Tuesday, 11 May 2010, KO 7pm.

All proceeds will be donated to The Matt Hampson Trust.

Come along and cheer on our teachers and hope they can even the series.

Messrs Hughes, Moffatt, Bee, Friend and Taylor will be representing RGS and will be joining senior and primary school teachers from around Worcestershire for the charity match

Tickets are only £3 and are on sale from Mrs Sturdy in Whiteladies on 01905 613391. Tickets are also available from the Warriors Box Office on 01905 454183.

Parking is available at Sixways for £2 per car, payable as you drive in.

Corporate boxes are available at a price of £20 per head which will include a 1 course meal, great viewing point and a current 1stXV player who will act as the host.

Last year’s game was hugely entertaining so we hope to see as many of you there as possible this year for a really fun evening.
Please book quickly to avoid disappointment and support two great charities.

Rugby Background / RGS Teachers –

Gareth Hughes (Fly Half) – ex Saracens
Jon Moffatt (Back) – ex Northampton
Jonathon Friend (Back Row) – ex Bath
Ben Taylor (Back Row) – ex Bedford
Simon Bee (Hooker) – ex Broad Plain Bristol

Lollipop Brooker, 8, competed in the ‘Mini’s 1’ section of the contest, in which she came 5th in the Giant Slalom competition in her age category – Lolli was one of the youngest skiers to take part in the competition. She will compete in the British Championships in Meribel, France, at Easter.

A delighted Lolli commented: “I’ve had a fantastic Winter in Austria again and have really loved the skiing. I was very nervous about competing at the Inter Schools but enjoyed the racing a lot. I’m really looking forward to the Meribel Championships.”

Sporty Prior Park College student, Joss Bennett, has won three medals including gold in the Somerset County Championships. Joss achieved gold in the 200m IM, silver in the 200m breaststroke and bronze in the 400m IM.

Next Joss will represent Prior Park College in the biathlon at Millfield on 9 May and following that he will compete in the regional championships in June. If he finishes in the top six, he will qualify for a national competition later this year.

Headmaster, James Murphy O’Connor, comments:

“Warmest congratulations to Joss for his achievements so far. If he wins at Millfield and the regional championships, this will be the fourth consecutive year that Joss has made the nationals which is extremely impressive. We would like to wish Joss all the best for his future endeavours and look forward to hearing about the results.”

Joss comments:

“Winning at the Somerset County Championships is a good achievement for me but my ultimate goal is to get to the nationals. To make it to the final would be an amazing experience and my success at the Somerset County Championships has allowed me to build on my performance. My teachers at Prior Park have been really supportive and are always looking for ways to help me go the distance.”

Contact us at Prior Park College on 01225 831000 or info@priorpark.co.uk. To find out more about the College, visit www.priorparkschools.co.uk.

Stonyhurst girls have done well too. On Wednesday 3rd March, the U19 Girls Badminton Team competed in the Red Rose County Championships and finished in second place.

Photo: with their badges and certificates are (from left to right): Hannah Phoenix (16), Wendy Leung (17), Rebecca Powell (captain: 17) and Vanessa Vaghetti (18).

Southwold Town Garage has become the new sponsor of Saint Felix School’s equestrian team. The team, consisting of four girls from the school, will now enjoy invaluable support from their new sponsor.

Chris and Kerry Wilmot, who are the directors of the Southwold Town Garage, chose to sponsor Saint Felix Equestrian Team as their son Jack is a pupil at the school and the garage carries out the fleet maintenance of the school’s mini buses.

The partnership will be a ‘working’ sponsorship – representatives from the garage will attend shows that the team compete in, and will maintain vehicles required to transport the horses and team around the country. The company have also sponsored the ‘Arena Eventing – Jumping with Style’ class.

Co Director of Southwold Town Garage, Kerry Wilmot, commented: “The garage like to support teams based in the community, so we were delighted to offer our help to the equestrian team. Myself and Sarah Roberts, the assistant manager, both have an equine background and this also gives us both enjoyment and enthusiasm to be involved.”

Jane Ward, co-ordinator of the Equestrian team, added: “We are very grateful to Southwold Town Garage for their sponsorship. Members of their staff have an avid interest in horses, and it’s fantastic to have two local groups working together in the community.”

Competing for Saint Felix, Alice Ward, Hannah Bacon and Casey Willis completed a 1000m run and a 100m swim in both individual events and as a team. This was a new experience for these pupils and mark exciting times ahead for the school as the girls came away with bronze medals in the Year 8 Girls team event.

Hundreds of young athletes competed in the Championships, which took place at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Sunday 21st March. Some 650 young people from around the country faced the challenge of a swim and a run having qualified in 12 regional events during the Autumn Term.

The British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships is supported by Sport England and run by Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for modern pentathlon. Biathlons are one of the traditional ways that young people try out multi-sports events in an enjoyable, safe and competitive environment. After mastering swimming and running, they can gradually add the other disciplines of the modern pentathlon – fencing, shooting and show jumping – before tackling a full modern pentathlon.

Their hard work in running-training paid off as Casey, Alice and Hannah all managed to shave a minimum of ten seconds off their qualifying run time which boosted their points as they entered their stronger event, swimming. In an imposing 50m pool they rose to the occasion and gained some impressive times. To gain bronze medals was an icing on the cake.

Director of Sport at Saint Felix, Georgina Kingstone, commented: “We are all very proud of the girls – their dedication in training has really paid off. Well done.”

“Great Britain has an outstanding track record on the international stage in modern pentathlon and who knows, some future British Olympic pentathletes may compete at Crystal Palace on Sunday.” said Peter Hart, Chief Executive of Pentathlon GB.

Ben in action for Wales
Over the Easter Holidays, 3rd Form pupil Ben Wigmore was selected to represent Wales U16s at Hockey. Ben, who is still only 14 years old, has a further two years to offer to the National team at this age group.

Ben was part of the Wales U16 team that played Scotland in the first International of the season at Wrexham during the Easter weekend. The first match resulted in a win for Wales who totally dominated the game after a somewhat sluggish start with a score of 2 – 0. In the second match Scotland got off to a good start, leading at half time 2 – 0. Wales however took control in the second half of the match. Through excellent teamwork they scored three goals securing a 3 – 2 victory. The final match to end the series was frustrating for the Welsh boys as despite dominating the game in every respect and an extraordinary number of near misses, the final score was 2 – 1 to Scotland. Wales won the series however and it was well deserved.

As mentioned, Ben was selected to play as a member of the 18 man team despite being very young. At 14 he has the prospect of not only this year but two further years in the same age group. His inexperience at this level although initially daunting, did not reflect in his game. He played extremely well in all three matches demonstrating increasing confidence and excellent skill and control of the ball.

Hockey Coach at Christ College Dr Dominic Phelps said: “Having already played on numerous occasions for Christ College’s 1st XI – quite an achievement in itself given Ben’s age – this is a real testament not only to his outstanding ability in hockey but also to the immense amount of hardwork and dedication to the sport that he has put in over recent years. There is little doubt that a future national star is being developed right here at Christ College.”

Bedford Modern School parent, Tracey Smith, will be participating in the London Marathon on Sunday 25th April in order to raise funds for Keech Hospice Care’s children’s service.
The hospice looks after children with a life-limiting illness in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes, which is a huge area to cover.

Tracey, who has two sons at Bedford Modern School, Aaron in Year 3 and Kieran in Year 7, began working for the charity two years ago by working in the Keech Hospice Care shop in Kempston. “I had an induction day at the hospice and was so impressed with the wonderful care and support they provide for patients and families all year round. I was informed that the Government provides 25% of the funding and the charity must raise the rest. This inspired me even more to try and “do my bit”, said Tracey.

Having completed two midnight walks for the charity, Tracey wanted to set herself a true challenge and raise vital funds and so the London Marathon became an ideal target. “I applied to enter the London Marathon and obtained one of the gold bond charity places for Keech Hospice Care. The charity has to buy these places, which I did not realise, and I have guaranteed to raise at least £1,500,” added Tracey.

Serious training for the London Marathon began in January for Tracey when she received the official marathon magazine together with a 13 week training guide. “Having not run since I was at school, training has been quite tough at times,” said Tracey. “Sometimes it is hard to be motivated to go out on a dark, cold evening after a day at work. I worked out a circuit of half a mile and repeated this on numerous occasions in order to build up my stamina. As the weeks progressed I found I could run 5, 10, 13, 15, 18 and finally 21 miles, before beginning my three week taper phase.”

The London Marathon is 26.2 miles long starting at Greenwich and finishing in The Mall. Bedford Modern School wishes Tracey Smith every success with the London Marathon and anyone wishing to sponsor Tracey and help raise funds for Keech Hospice Care can donate at www.justgiving.com/tracey4keech

Photo: Bedford Modern School parent Tracey Smith who will be competing in the London Marathon to raise funds for Keech Hospice Care

Mrs. Angela O’Rourke, The Manor’s Director of Sport, has facilitated a programme of over 55 sporting opportunities and activities each week, allowing every boy and girl to enjoy physical activity both within the curriculum and out of personal choice.
4 full-time members of the PE Department and over 35 part-time and volunteer experts guide the children to develop their skills. From tag rugby and jumping onto surfboards to following Youth Sports Leader courses, the emphasis is on joining in and reaching potential.
Regular fixtures with schools in the area and the school’s hosting of master classes led by national and international athletes give the children a sense of the place of sport in our broad community. Sport works in tandem with fun in the classroom to challenge the children and to enhance each child’s self-esteem. Realistic targets are set for each child to allow them to believe their aims are achievable and, as they leave The Manor, they take with them high expectations of the role that sport, fitness and health will play in their own lives.

Lottie Van-Praag, Year 10, and Sophie Coombes-Roberts, Year 11, represented Wales in the Women’s U19 Lacrosse Home International Championship at Cardiff University in March. The girls both played extremely well, resulting in their selection to play for the Wales Senior Women’s B Team at the Home Internationals in Edinburgh on the 17th and 18th April. Sophie scored twice against England and they both achieved hat-tricks against Ireland. Lottie won 80% of the centre draws in both matches. The girls were the youngest ever to represent Wales in a Senior International game.

Head of Sports, Mrs Karen Bevan, said, ‘Both Sophie and Lottie have exceeded all expectations in their first full season competing at this very high level. We are very proud of their achievements so far and look forward to following and supporting their progress in the future’.

The Marist Senior School, Sunninghill, had an impressive week of sporting successes starting with Swimming on Monday 3rd March, where their swimming teams attended the Ascot School’s Relay Competition at Heathfield School.

The Year 9 team came first over all in their age group, and the Year 7 teams also came in top positions after being placed 2nd and 3rd.

Cross country was their next event on Wednesday 3rd March at ‘The Look Out’ in Bracknell. The Swinley Forest Cross Country Relay was entered by Ffion MacKenzie and Chelsea Tinniswood in Year 7, Greta Spitzer and Emma Davis Year 8, and Kate Reynolds and Lucy Campbell in Year 9.

The Marist Relay Team came first and two minutes faster than the other competitors!

Also on Wednesday, fifteen teams entered The U13 Ascot Schools Netball Tournament held at St George’s School. The Marist Team were unbeaten in their pool games and then played Licensed Victuallers School and won 6-2 in the semi-final. They went on to beat The Abbey School 4-3 in the final.

The Marist Senior School has won Swimming Relays, Cross Country Relays and Netball Tournaments all in one week!

Mrs Bishopp, Head of PE at the Marist Senior School is extremely proud of the successes of the PE department in such a short space of time, and Mrs Karen Thompson a PE teacher at the Marist comments, “we have had a strong sporting year at the Marist so far and are so proud of girls and their team spirit and comradeship. We are looking forwards to our next matches over the coming weeks.”

The under-9 chess team from Homefield School in Surrey have become the EPSCA U9 National Champions 2009 in the final round of the tournament, winning with a record score of 31.5 out of 35 points.

(EPSCA stands for English Primary Schools Chess Association).

The Homefield chess coach is Miss Bradley.

The Under-13 1st XV rugby team from Homefield School has won the National Prep Schools Rugby Tournament.

To win the tournament was a fantastic achievement, going one better than the U13 1st XV team of 2005 who reached the final.

Well done to all the boys involved and thank you for the parents for all their support.

Bedford Modern School Year 9 student, Ryan Isaacson has been selected for his performance throughout the winter season, to represent The East of England Team in the Virgin Mini London Marathon taking place on 25th April. The Virgin Mini London Marathon is open to anyone aged between 11 and 17 years and will take place over a course three miles long, stretching from London’s Old Billingsgate to The Mall.

Ryan competed at the English Schools Cross Country Event held at Heaton Park, Greater Manchester on Saturday 20th March finishing 12th out of 329 finishers. The top ten runners have been selected to represent England and it was only four seconds and two places that separated Ryan from achieving this.

Patrick Jerram, Director of Sport at Bedford Modern School said: “I am delighted Ryan did so well at the English Schools Cross Country Event, just missing out on that elusive top ten spot and England selection by four seconds. I am sure that Ryan will continue to train hard and hopefully break into that top ten in the very near future.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School student Ryan Isaacson who has been selected for the Mini London Marathon

A pupil at Mount St Mary’s College has qualified for The British Youth Fencing Championships after claiming a bronze medal at a key regional tournament.

Nina Zimmerman, a year 10 boarding student at the Derbyshire school, fought her way to the third place in the Girls Under 16 Foil event at the Yorkshire Youth Fencing Championships.

The British Youth Championships 2010 will be held from 1 – 3 May at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield.

Nina will be the first Mount St Mary’s student to represent the college at this prestigious event.

Mr Adam Blight, Mount St Mary’s Coach, said: “It is a fantastic achievement for Nina to win a bronze medal and qualify for the British Youth Championships, particularly as there were many Team GB and county fencers amongst the competitors.

“It was a great day of fencing and we wish Nina the best of luck for the British Youth Championships in May.”

Mount St Mary’s was also represented at the Yorkshire Youth Fencing Championships by Tom Cotterill, who fenced foil, epee and sabre, and Benedikt Gers in the foil.

Pupils Rosalind Formin and Eloise Brooks competed in the junior event.

Mr Adam Blight added: “Fencers at the Mount are really beginning to make their mark on a regional and national level and these strong performances follow the school’s success at the Lancashire Schools Foil where we won four medals in what was our first ever regional competition.”

Photo: Mount St Mary’s boarding pupil Nina Zimmerman.

Surrey children have met decathlon great Daley Thompson as the Olympic gold medallist opened a new athletics academy at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School.

The Academy, which starts in April, will give youngsters who have sporting potential the opportunity to follow in the footsteps in one of Great Britain’s greatest Olympians and develop skills in a number of athletics disciplines, many of which form part of the decathlon. The Academy is part of a programme devised by Daley Thompson to get children outside while developing them in all events of athletics.

Daley, who won Olympic gold in 1980 and 1984, visited the school and carried out a hurdles coaching session for junior pupils on the athletics track before taking questions from older pupils who were keen to learn how he achieved his Olympic success. He then presented the School with a trophy; the ‘Daley Thompson Athletics Cup’ to be awarded annually to a pupil who has demonstrated outstanding athletic achievement.

Daley has chosen the Royal Alexandra and Albert School for the Athletics Academy as it has an all-weather athletics track and other excellent sporting facilities suitable for training young athletes. “The Athletics Academy will provide youngsters of all abilities with the opportunity to develop their skills at a number of athletics disciplines many of which are part of the decathlon programme. Many children dream of participating in the Olympics and I am pleased to be able to provide this Academy to help them on their way, under the guidance of world class athlete, Nick Buckfield” says Daley.

Headmaster Paul Spencer Ellis comments “Our new sports facilities, including the all-weather athletics track have made a big impact on the amount of sport our pupils enjoy. We are pleased that we can make these excellent facilities available to local children through the Daley Thompson Athletics Academy. This provides another opportunity for children to keep fit, develop their athletics skills and possibly become the champions of the future”.

Daley Thompson Athletics Academy
•For children of all abilities aged 7-11
•The course is based on the decathlon events where they are suitable for junior children
•Open to pupils at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School as well as local children
•Starts Wednesday 28th April 4pm-5pm
•Every week during term time (i.e. April 28, May 5, 12, 19, 26, Jun 9, 16, 23, 30, Jul 7 )
•Course costs £10 per session and runs for the whole term
•Course leader is Nick Buckfield
•To sign up please call 01932 863240

Stonyhurst College has recently won two consecutive U18’s 7’s Hockey tournaments in 4 days! The first was at Austin Friars School, Carlisle, where the team beat Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith in the final, winning 2-1. 15 goals were scored throughout the tournament with 1 conceded.

The second was at Mount St Mary’s, Sheffield, where they beat their hosts 2-1 in the final. Livvy Carefoot (18, from Knowle Green) played particularly well, often scoring goals within seconds of matches beginning. In this tournament, 20 goals were scored with 1 conceded.

Photo 1: Stonyhurst squad at Austin Friars – Melissa Gulcimen, Jessica Pye, Adaobi Anah, Casey Davis, Clare Lupton, Camilla,Copping, LivvyCarefoot, Hilary Harrison, Francie Page

Bromsgrove Pre-Preparatory & Nursery School has been busy raising money for Sport Relief today.

Pupils and staff at the Hanbury Road School came dressed ready to play their favourite sport on Friday 19th March and raised money for the charity amounting to £225.
Mrs Kate Western, Year 2 teacher says “throughout the day, all year groups took part in a Sport Relief challenge. Year 2 children and their teachers were very proud to have completed a mile. Following in the spirit of celebrity relay challenges, Year 1 pupils took part in a continuous relay event and the gruelling Three Peaks Challenge was the inspiration for Reception children who enjoyed a circuit of obstacles. In addition, Nursery pupils motivated by the recent Sport Relief celebrity cycle ride, cycled ‘laps’ around the Nursery grounds

A 10 year old England chess star from Windlesham House School in Washington is on his way to play in the Czech Republic over Easter building on his already impressive reputation.

Otto Pyper will be attending the 31st International Annual Tournament of Young Players in Frydek Mistek as part of the National Junior U12 squad.

This prestigious annual event invites the national teams from each country in Europe who, in turn, select their top players from each age group.

Otto, from Storrington, is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Ramsay, a former pupil at Windlesham House School, who has been selected for the U14 age group of the tournament.

The chess coach at Windlesham, who is also the Sussex Junior chess coach, Jonathan Tuck, said: “Otto is really looking forward to playing the top chess players from Eastern Europe.”

Otto is going to the Czech Republic on a high following victory by the Sussex Junior chess team who beat St Petersburg, from Russia, in the finals of the Battle of the Giants held in Amsterdam a few months ago.

Headmaster of Windlesham House School, Richard Foster, said: “Otto is going from strength to strength with his chess and we do wish him every success at the tournament in the Czech Republic.”

Matthew Sexton, a pupil at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School has beaten opponents up to two years older, to achieve a silver medal at the British Schools Judo Championships. The contest, which took place in Sheffield saw 12 year old Matthew compete against 16 pupils in his category and he was only beaten by one opponent who was two years his senior.

Matthew, who has been doing judo since he was four years old, takes weekly lessons at school as well as two other weekly sessions with his local club, Westcroft Judo Club. He puts his success down to regular training and doing the sport since he was young. “I was uncertain about whether I would win a medal as so many of the other competitors were older than me, but I focused on one fight at a time. I tried not to think about their advantages or disadvantages – I just thought of them as an equal” says Matthew.

Headmaster Paul Spencer Ellis comments “As a Sports College, we encourage all types of sport and judo is very popular amongst both boys and girls. Matthew has worked hard to achieve this medal and he can be justifiably proud of his success.”

A RGS Worcester pupil, Max Whittle, is eagerly awaiting the results of his trial for the England U18 Basketball team, where he was one of 80 players put forward for possible selection.

Max attends RGS Worcester and trains with the senior Worcester Wolves team, which currently sits 9th in the British Basketball League, the supreme level in the UK. He also plays for their U18 team, which competes in The National League, Midlands Conference.

Playing at Point Guard, 18 year old Max also suits up for Worcester, playing in Division 1 of the West Midlands League.

Last week, Max’s side won the Regional Final in an epic encounter, 80-75, against the Birmingham Blazers. In spite of sustaining a vicious poke in the eye, Max played a full part in the victory.

“Getting selected for the England trials was just brilliant and an experience that I won’t forget,” said Max. “I’m very grateful for the training and playing opportunities that I’ve had with the Wolves, particularly the coaching I’ve had from Chris Lowe and Chris Mayes. My personal coach Tom Perkes has also been fantastic to me.”

He has secured a place at Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, Washington State for life after RGS. His dream is to make an impact with The Runnin’ Vikes and then transfer to one of the major basketball-playing universities in the USA.

Oh yes, as well as making the England squad!

The second Spelthorne Junior Chess Championships took place at Staines Prep on Saturday 13 March. The competition, which was open to all children living or attending school in Spelthorne, is part of an initiative led by Mike Basman (organiser of the British Land UK Chess Challenge) and local organiser Dr Noel Stewart.

The tournament comprises three age categories, U9 (9 year olds), U11 (11 year olds) and U14 (14 year olds). It puts contenders through five rounds to find a champion in each group.

The Spelthorne event attracted entrants from eight different schools. Alex Leeks of Staines Prep won the U9 competition with straight victories. Sam Hase, also of Staines Prep, was runner-up in the group.

Sam Freeth (Halliford School) won all his U14 games, with Lyndon Kindred-Robinson (Hampton School) finishing second in this category.

The U11 competition was the most fiercely contested. After many close matches, the fifth round proved to be the decider. Ritansh Kathuria (Kingston Grammar School Preparatory Form) clinched victory, with Angelo Umashangar as runner up

All competitors received a Certificate of Participation. Those who won at least three of their games were also awarded a rosette. The winners were presented with their trophies by Councillor Malcolm Royer, who was pleased to see chess being played so enthusiastically in the borough.

Photo(L-R): Alex Leeks(9 yrs), Malcolm Royer(Councillor), Samuel Freeth(12 years) – former pupil, Ritansh Kathuria(11 years) – former pupil, Dr Noel Stewart(local organiser)

The Stonyhurst College U14s won the Lancashire Schools Plate Final at Rochdale RUFC on Sunday 21st March, beating Kirkham Grammar 38 -12. Kirkham provided strong opposition, and at half-time the score was 12-7 in their favour. Stonyhurst played extremely well and managed to take the lead in the second half.

The U14s are now preparing for a tour to Italy in April. Staying in Lido di Jesolo, they will have training sessions on the beach and play matches against Montebelluna, Piave and Paese. They will then visit Venice, the Gardaland theme park, and move into the cricket season with some beach cricket, no doubt consuming a good deal of ice-cream along the way!

Photo: Stonyhurst team with the Lancashire Plate, held by captain, Danny Fitzgerald (13) from Blackburn.

On the 5th and 6th of March, Caterham School 1st XII and 2nd XII lacrosse teams competed in the annual National Schools U19A and U19B Lacrosse Tournament which was held at Imperial College Sports Ground.

It was the first time that we had entered a 2nd XII. Only the schools with the strongest squads enter the U19B competition and so Caterham 2nd XII were competing against 27 other top schools. The team performed superbly and remained unbeaten on the first day, defeating teams that included Berkhamsted and St Paul’s whilst drawing with Lady Eleanor Hollis. The results meant that they qualified for the final day as leaders of their group. Consequently, on the Saturday, they faced opposition from some of the strongest second teams in the country. Despite the strength of opposition they managed to perform well to achieve some great wins, including a deserved 2-1 victory over Downe House. They finished the tournament with a top ten placing in the country.

Although Caterham School 1st XII have competed in this National Tournament for many years, for many of the team it was their first experience of a tournament at this level. There were 49 top schools competing and so the first day was always going to involve some very competitive matches, particularly since their section included teams from Godolphin and Bedford. Therefore, they knew that they would have to play to their full potential to progress in the competition. Unfortunately, nerves proved a problem in the first game, which they narrowly lost 2-1 to Bedford. However, showing great character they settled themselves and played some excellent lacrosse in their remaining five matches. The team improved throughout achieving their best score with an 8-1 victory over Uppingham. However, the early loss meant that they had to beat Godolphin, the top seeds, in order to progress. They rose to the challenge superbly and produced an outstanding 3-2 win that enabled them to qualify for the championship on Saturday.

After six tough matches on the Friday, the Saturday matches were always going to be difficult. However the weeks of early morning fitness training combined with ice baths on the Friday night enabled the team to produce further outstanding performances on the Saturday. They beat Wycombe Abbey, Haberdashers, and, most memorably, arch rivals and reigning national champions Guildford High, in a match which will be remembered by many for years to come. Unfortunately, very narrow defeats to Benenden and St. Catherine’s just denied Caterham a place in the semi finals. However, these performances enabled them to finish seventh in the country, and the top co-educational school. Perhaps the most notable achievement was that they were one of only two teams to beat the eventual winners, Godolphin.

Headmaster Julian Thomas said: ‘I am delighted to see such successful performances by both teams. It is a great achievement to finish as the top co-educational school in the country. I was particularly pleased about the manner of their success as both teams had to overcome the setback of defeat, which they did admirably, to go on to win more matches. Although we have a reputation for high academic standards, we take also offer a wide range of co-curricular activity of which sport is an important part. Whilst we believe in sport for all it is always very rewarding when teams do so well in a national competition.’

Lacrosse 1st Team Squad:
Emma Warner, Emma Sheldon, Georgia Flanagan, Lottie Williams, Rosie Crammond,
Hannah Wright (V Capt), Clarissa Hearn, Jess Puntan, Hattie Shaw, Sophie Colman, Megan Armitage, Tash Reynoldson, Katie Barrett, Lisa Mill, Rosie Clarke, Loulou Rowlands (Capt).

Lacrosse 2nd Team Squad:
Tash Hunt, Georgia Feldmanis, Sarah Edwards, Bex Goddard, Hollie Coleman, Alia Ardon (Captain), Ellie Scott—Smith, Daisy Hopkins, Rachel Bartholomews, Zoe Webb, Katie Marsh, Emma Houlden, Lizzie Armitage, Amy Miles, Rebecca Ward.

Photo: 1st team Squad

U16s Welsh Hockey International
Hockey at Christ College continues to go from strength to strength and this has been reflected in a series of national and regional selections.

Christ College pupil Ben Wigmore, from Llanfrynach near Brecon, has been selected to play for Wales at U16 level.

Ben, who is only 14 years old, will now train as part of the 23 man Welsh squad and can look forward to earning his first national cap over the Easter holidays.

Hockey Coach at Christ College Dr Dominic Phelps said: “Having already played on numerous occasions for Christ College’s 1st XI – quite an achievement in itself given Ben’s age – this is a real testament not only to his outstanding ability in hockey but also to the immense amount of hardwork and dedication to the sport that he has put in over recent years. There is little doubt that a future national star is being developed right here at Christ College.”

In additional to Ben’s national selection, five Fifth Form girls from Christ College have been selected for the U16s South East Wales Regional Hockey Team/Squad. They are Rachel Hope and Amy Bilbrough (defence), Beatrice Wigmore and Lottie McKenzie (forwards) and Fern Bowkett (goal keeper).

The five girls also represented their county team in the 2009-2010 season. Jan Levy , coach for Powys U16s said:” I am delighted that the girls have been selected for their outstanding hockey skills and ability.
SE Wales Team members
They have progressed from representing their county in hockey to representing the South East Wales Region. In November the Powys Under 16s team were the “plate winners” of the “South Wales County Schoolgirl U16 Finals 2009″, captained by Amy Bilbrough with Rachel Hope as vice captain. I am very proud of them.”

South East Wales Regional Coach Geoff Roderick said:

“I am delighted to have such a strong contingent from Christ College in the squad/team this year. The girls are making a significant contribution to the Regional Team. They have attended regular training sessions and last weekend they played in the fixture against South West Wales, winning 7-0 in the first match and drawing their second match.”

In their latest match, played on 6th March, South East Wales beat Surrey Juniors 5-1. The standard of play from SE Wales was exceptional. The score was 1-1 at half time. Surrey are currently the England county champions and have about 5 players either playing for England U16s hockey or are in the process of attending the selection trials. The CCB girls all played their part in this impressive victory.

The strength and quality of Netball at Christ College has never been in doubt. Recent successes in the County play-offs have meant that Christ College will go on to represent Powys at the National inter-county tournaments at U19 & U16 level.

However the performances of all of our netball teams today (10th March) against Llandovery College has shown that Christ College has strength in depth throughout the year groups.

Friendly rivalry with Llandovery College was resumed on the Netball court this afternoon with six fixtures being played. The results were as follows:

CCB 1st VII 34 – 7 Llandovery College 1st VII

CCB 2nd VII 25 – 17 Llandovery College 2nd VII

CCB U15 VII 43 – 2 Llandovery College U15 VII

CCB U14 VII 34 – 0 Llandovery College U14 VII*

CCB U13 VII 22 – 1 Llandovery College U13 VII*

CCB U12 VII 8 – 0 Llandovery College U12 VII*

* – Played at Llandovery College

This clean sweep of victories by Christ College Netball teams in the six fixtures today follows the clean sweep of victories achieved by the girls hockey teams in fixtures played in October.

Netball coach Mrs Lynne Webber said: “The girls were superb. What more could I ask of them? I’m very pleased with the performance of every team but I’m sure the rest of the girls won’t mind me saying how proud I am of the performance of our U12s team.”

On the 28th February 2010 Woldingham polo team participated in the National Arena Girls Tournament, held in Rugby.

The team consisted of Katy Bernard, Laura Endicott and Heather Norris.
They played against Rugby, Wellington and St George’s Ascot. They were all very nervous due to the fact that it was the first chukka of the day and there was not enough time to warm up.

The first chukka was against Rugby school and it lasted for seven minutes. Unfortunately we lost 3-1.
The second chukka was against Wellington and the girls were more confident and prepared. They won 5-1.
After lunch two more chukkas were played which lasted for three minutes. The first chukka was against St George’s Ascot and was drawn 0-0.
The last chukka was against Wellington and was again a win 1-0.

Overall the girls came 6th. We are very proud of the girls as it was their first polo tournament. We look forward to them competing more in the future.

Heather Norris and Katy Bernard

Trent College in Long Eaton are celebrating after their Girls’ Hockey Team were crowned Under 16 Champions at the National Schools Finals, held in Staffordshire. This achievement was a milestone in itself for Girls’ Hockey at the School, being the first time Trent had a team in the National Finals, and what a debut it turned out to be.
The tournament proved to be a very tough competition; Trent took ten out of a possible twelve points from their group stages; beating Ipswich and Wakefield by a single goal to none, beating Millais 7-1 and drawing two a piece with a tough Millfield side.
They met St George’s College in the final 1-0, with Harriet Livesey scoring the winning goal. Kim Leiper led the way for Trent throughout the tournament, scoring four of the seven goals against Millais.
Peter Shuttleworth, their coach, was delighted as Holly Rainford stepped up to lift the salver: ‘This will hopefully be the first of many years we will be here with the girls’ teams to challenge for the national title. This triumph was not a complete surprise as it had been obvious for a number of years that we had a talented and committed group of players, and indeed the whole squad deserve a mention. The potential was there, but they have had to work very hard to achieve their success. They had a setback at the Midlands Championships when they were beaten by a robust Oundle team, but in hindsight, perhaps this helped to keep the girls focussed and to take nothing for granted.’
This is not the only achievement for this year group; Trent’s U16 boys continued their fine hockey season at Cannock Hockey Club by winning the Midlands Schools title. This was the 7th time in eight years that Trent has won this title, an impressive achievement considering the strength of the competition in the region. This success means that the team now goes forward to play in the National U16 Tournament, due to be played on 19th/20th April.

U12 Netballers from Bromsgrove Preparatory School travelled to Brighton (on Friday 12th March) to compete in the IAPS National Netball finals at Roedean school

On the day, 68 teams took part in the U11, U12 and U13 competitions and it was a fantastic spectacle of netball to watch in a stunning setting.

Having qualified as Regional winners, Bromsgrove’s U12s were in a good position placed in a group with Greshams, Hazlegrove, Westbourne House, Port Regis, Godstowe and Cranleigh. In their first game against Greshams school, the girls had a tentative start with the first half score being 2 – 1 to Greshams, finally winning the first game 6 – 2. In the second game, Bromsgrove faced Hazlegrove School and again were ahead 5 – 3. Unfortunately the following game waslost 6 – 2. Undeterred, Bromsgrove focused on their next match which was against Port Regis who had also lost to Westbourne House, so we needed to win. We started well with U12 pupils Georgina Horsley-Gubbins, Anastasia Brantingham and Imogen Sapstead attacking brilliantly, supported by Alice Vaughan in defence and we were ahead 3 – 2. When the half time whistle should have gone, our team tactics weren’t allowed to be put into action as the umpires didn’t hear the central timed ‘hooter’ and they played on until the full 12 minutes were played! Unfortunately that game was then lost 5 -4.

Bromsgrove were extremely fired up for the next match against Godstowe which took them to victory 5 – 3. The last match should have been the toughest and an opportunity to get their own back against Cranleigh School, who won the U12 IAPS National Hockey Finals earlier in the academic year. Bromsgrove played their best netball of the season and it all came together, cruising to victory 9 – 2.

Bromsgrove had tied on points with Port Regis so they had a nail biting wait to hear whether they had done enough to get into the semi-finals, finally relieved to hear their name being called out over the PA system.

In the semi’s Bromsgrove sadly lost 7 – 5 against Brighton College. In the third/ fourth play off match, Bromsgrove took on Westbourne house – a team they had already lost to in the group stage – but after the excitement of the semi-finals, Bromsgrove’s play was a little flat and they lost 7 – 4.

Miss Jennifer Danks, Head of Prep School Girls’ PE and Games says “It was a strong whole squad performance but player of the tournament goes to Year 7 pupil Imogen Sapstead for her consistent shooting and excellent attacking play. A great achievement after coming back from 6 weeks rest after injury. The girls should not be too disappointed as fourth in the country is a fantastic result. They have medals and the memories to hold onto ready for next year’s challenge where I’m sure they will go one better!”

Over the next four weeks, the Derbyshire school will play host to five regional and national sports events.

Kicking off the action-packed March sports events programme is the Mount 7s Hockey and Netball Tournament this weekend (Saturday, March 6.)

It will be followed by the BUCS Championships, which will see 6,000 elite student athletes compete in 26 sports at a number of venues across the region over four days from 10 – 14 March.

Mount St Mary’s first-class sporting facilities will stage the BUCS Lacrosse event on March 11 and the BUCS Ultimate Frisbee on March 13 and 14.

Both events will form part of a highlights programme, which will be broadcast by Sky Sports.

Scottish Rugby training event will take place from March 27-28 before the British Milers Club event over the Easter Holidays, April 16-18.

Paul Scott, director of sport at Mount St Mary’s, said: “The College has a proud sporting reputation and is highly regarded throughout the Midlands and the North of England for our first class facilities.

“The next few weeks are set to be a fantastic spectacle of sport and we look forward to welcoming all the competitors to Mount St Mary’s.”

Sports facilities at Mount St Mary’s include eight rugby pitches, three cricket squares, two football pitches and Astroturf pitch, two grass hockey pitches, six tennis courts, five netball courts, a swimming pool and Grade 1 athletics track.

After an exciting and successful season, Bromsgrove Schools’ U16A rugby team have been declared the North Midlands Champions (on 3rd March 2010).

Their opponents, Adam’s Grammar, put up a good fight and it was all square at full time (3 to 3), however it came to the boot of Fifth Former James Widdop to put Bromsgrove ahead with a well struck drop goal with 2 minutes left to play.

Mr Hugh Bell, U16A Coach says, “This win marked a tremendous end to the U16’s season and I would like to thank everyone involved for their help and support”.

Two boys from Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall have been selected to play for the Independent Association of Prep Schools Barbarians. Favour Maduka will play for the Under 13 side and Chidiebere Nechi for the Under 11′s. The IAPS have been holding trials all over the country to select a squad of players to play in Ireland soon. Hundreds of boys have gone through the selection process and have anxiously awaited the decision of the selectors, who attended a final session at Rugby School a few days ago. Both boys received “Man of the Match” awards in their final trial games. Bravo!

Photo: Favour (aged 13, left) and Chidiebere (11, right).

Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire pupils were triumphant at the North of England cross-country squad, by winning the recent ISA Cross-Country Championships, held near Coventry, last week.
Twelve-year old Andrew Hess achieved his own individual glory by winning his event and becoming the National ISA Cross-Country Champion for his age group. Andrew, aged 12 and a pupil at Hull Collegiate School is also a member of the Kingston Upon Hull Athletics club and is to represent the area at the English Schools Athletics Association cross-country meeting in Manchester later this month.
Charlotte Dodds, aged 15, achieved her glory with a second place medal in the Under 16 girls race. Charlotte will also be attending the ESAA meeting in Manchester with Andrew, plus fellow pupil Grace Midgely.
The North of England team events also produced a series of winners, with the Under 14 and Under 16 North of England girls team winning their races and the Under 12 and Under 19 North of England girls team placed 2nd.
The pupils, all from Hull Collegiate School based in Anlaby, made up nearly half of the North of England cross-country squad, with 11 of the 24 members of the Junior squad coming from the Prep School and 16 Senior School pupils joining the Senior squad. This is a huge achievement for the local runners as the North of England territory covers a huge area ranging from Durham, the whole of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, over to Cumbria and North Wales. Regional qualifying heats were held earlier this year to select the top ten athletes from each region and the Hull-based runners achieved their first taste of success by dominating the final North of England line-up.
“We are immensely proud of our pupils,” says Mr Andrew North, Sports Co-ordinator at Hull Collegiate Prep School. “The school is set in 5 hectares of grounds and we have our own cross-country track. Our pupils are out in all weather running across the 3 km route and this hard-work has definitely paid off as pupils from the school made up nearly half of the final North of England squad.”
The Cross-Country Championships were held at Princethorpe College, near Coventry in wet and cold weather. Although the sleet did stop just long enough for the junior runners, Mrs Dot Feszczak, the senior school sports teacher who took the pupils to the event, admits that the conditions were appalling.

“Virtually everyone surpassed themselves on the day in extremely difficult conditions,” says Mrs Feszczak. “The course was very slippery and it was difficult to run well. One of our parents came to support the North of England Team and she was superb encouraging the runners at a particularly challenging part of the course.”
The results of the Junior and Senior Teams were combined and at the end of the Tournament the North of England were placed overall winners on the day.”

Over two cold and wet Wednesday afternoons in February, Bedford Modern Schools’ Cross Country team competed in the North Beds District Championships and the County Cross Country Championships.

Over both events, all of the Bedford Modern runners competed well, with one Junior girl (Samantha Prentice) and one Senior boy (Alex Robertson) together with four Junior boys (Ryan Isaacson, Henk Kroon, Lewis Marshall, Tom Boulton) qualifying for the County Championships.

However, it is Ryan Isaacson who needs to take all the plaudits for his performances’. In the North Beds event, run around Biddenham Upper School’s fields and surrounding golf course, Ryan took the lead after the second corner and never looked back. He was comfortable in the lead and was never under pressure and came home first by a large margin.

This performance was then surpassed at the County Championships, run around Ampthill Park, where Ryan had a conservative start in the downhill section of the course but soon took the lead on the first uphill section on the first lap. Once in front Ryan extended his lead with every stride and eventually won the race by approximately 400 metres making him the County Champion.

This result means that Ryan has been selected to represent the Bedfordshire & Luton County Team at the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships held at Heaton Park, Greater Manchester on Saturday 20th March. Ryan becomes the second Bedford Modern runner to achieve this feat after Amy Lodder ran in the 2009 Championships.

Patrick Jerram, Director of Sport at Bedford Modern School said, “I would like to congratulate Ryan on his recent success and wish him the very best at the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 9 student Ryan Isaacson

State-of-the-art facilities at Mount St Mary’s College are playing a key role in attracting prestigious sporting events and national teams to Derbyshire ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.

Mount St Mary’s, based at Spinkhill, features in the London Organising Committee Pre-Games Training Camp Guide, which is designed to give teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues from which they can choose to prepare for the Games.

The College has first hand experience of hosting scores of international events and elite sport training camps including the GB Orienteering squad training camp, the Annual Academy for Great Britain Rugby Football League and the UK Athletics endurance squad training camp.

It is also the home base for the German Exiles Rugby League team, the Scottish Exiles RFU Academy and the North East Derbyshire Chargers RFL team.

Mount St Mary’s is a day and boarding school set in its own extensive grounds. Its Grade 1 Athletics Centre boasts an all-weather, six lane floodlit track and separate floodlit throws and jumps area, changing rooms, a physio/medical room and conference facilities.

Overnight accommodation for up to 178 people is available during the college term and in the holidays, with the majority of rooms having en-suite, tea and coffee making facilities and a TV.

Paul Scott, director of sport at Mount St Mary’s College, said: “Mount St Mary’s has a proud sporting heritage and following considerable investment, we have become a venue of excellence with exceptional athletics facilities and first class hotel style accommodation.

“The opportunity to train and live in one location makes Mount St Mary’s College very attractive to a variety of elite Olympic sports, particularly track and field athletics, and the popularity of the venue as a base for training camps is increasing every year.”

Advised by former British Olympic Association and current Rugby Football League nutritionist Jane Griffin, the catering department at Mount St Mary’s strives to ensure that meals provided to the athletes contain the correct nutritional value.

Jane said: “Having personally experienced the meals at Mount St Mary’s College for a week on separate occasions, the food is of a good quality prepared and cooked to a high standard. Choices and quantities at meal-times have been more than adequate for our elite young Rugby players.”

Photo: Students compete at Mount St Mary’s Grade 1 Athletics Centre.

A Year 8 pupil from Trent College in Long Eaton has earned her place in the top eight speed skaters in Western Europe, one of only two British girls to do so.

Last month, Jennifer Pickering, 13, took part in the final Star Class competition in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, finishing in 6th place. The Star Class is an international competition for elite short track Speed Skaters residing in Western Europe and the grand final, the ‘Future Champions Trophy’, will be held at the beginning of March in Budapest. Jennifer and her fellow Western European skaters will be competing against the top eight from Eastern Europe, and she is one of only five British skaters to have reached the finals of this prestigious competition.

Jennifer started skating when she was just nine years old and spent a year working her way to the highest level, from where she could concentrate on one of the four disciplines; ice dance, figure skating, synchronised skating or speed skating. After gaining gold awards in two of these disciplines, an excited Jennifer was able to start speed skating, a long term ambition. She will finish what is only her second year of competitive racing in April, and has gone from strength to strength in a very short space of time.

In her first year she won the award for most improved skater and finished the season by achieving a qualifying time that enabled her to enter the Star Class competitions. This year, Jennifer won the first international open competition in the skating calendar at Mont Blanc, following this up at home by winning almost all of the domestic competitions she entered. Also, along with three team mates, Jennifer broke the British 2000m relay record, which was a proud moment as she was the captain of the team.

From the beginning of the season it was Jennifer’s goal to make the Star Class grand final, and talking about her achievements, Jennifer’s father, James Pickering said: ‘We are very proud of Jennifer’s determination to succeed in her chosen sport, and everyone comments on her good sportsmanship and positive attitude. It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get where she is today and she still strives to improve. She has a long road ahead of her, but I’m sure she’s going to love every minute of it!’

A Derbyshire school’s equestrian sensation is cantering on to the national stage after being invited to train with the prestigious Great Britain Pony Squad.

Erin Williams, 12, who attends Mount St Mary’s College, was rewarded with the call-up to the squad’s dressage team on pony Danny Boy B after a series of impressive performances in nationwide competitions.

Just ten riders currently make up the GB squad, which acts as a progress group for riders under 16 with the potential to compete at the highest level.

Squad members are invited to compete abroad for GB throughout the season to gain international experience.

Erin, who trains most mornings before school at 6.30am, could practically ride before walking – first getting into the saddle as a toddler. She now rides dressage, one of the only sports where men, women and children all compete on an equal footing.

As well as representing England at Under 25 level, Erin has competed in numerous national events, often finishing above far more experienced riders. If Erin continues this impressive form she is hoping to be invited to represent Great Britain in international competition.

The ultimate aim of the squad is to select the best four members for a place on the GB team at the FEI European Championships in July. This year the championships take place in Hull.

Erin, from Barlow, said: “I’m thrilled to be invited to train with the GB Pony Squad. It means I’ll be training alongside superb riders and takes me one step closer to achieving my goal of representing Great Britain.

“Mount St Mary’s has always been supportive of my riding commitments. I’m very grateful to them for their encouragement and for allowing me to balance riding with my studies.”

Mount St Mary’s headteacher, Laurence McKell, said: “To be recognised nationally is a fantastic achievement, but the fact that Erin is still only 12 makes it all the more remarkable.

“She is clearly a magnificent horse rider and it is brilliant that her talent has been recognised by such an esteemed organisation.

“Everyone at Mount St Mary’s is very proud of Erin. She is an exceptionally talented girl and a superb ambassador for the school.”

Photo: Erin on her pony, Dublin.(By Paul Sands at Photo-kinesis)

Boys’ Hockey – Boarding Schools Cup

Charterhouse 0 Canford 7

Goal scorers Simon Hanley, 5 Tom Darby 2

Canford’s entire team played very well, especially after only one practice game. The bad weather over the past few weeks may have caused postponements of all the warm-up matches, but this has allowed the players to improve on their fitness levels.

The team was captained superbly by Simon Hanley who managed to score five of the seven goals, with Tom Darby adding the other two. Charterhouse pupils and parents were also a credit to their school, applauding the display of hockey the Canford players had shown. However, as our players will know, the score could and should have been into double figures, so there is still work to do on the practice field.

Charterhouse School’s match report:

Charterhouse tumbled to their worst ever home defeat against another school on Tuesday 19th January. It would be reasonable to point to a total lack of pre-season practice plus the loss of Charterhouse’s lynch-pin midfielder, Alex Rozier-Pamplin, after only a few minutes play as some form of explanation, but the simple truth is that Canford were a very slick unit who dominated the game from start to finish and who might well have scored even more than the seven goals they achieved.

The visitors pressed from the opening minute and only an outstanding display of goalkeeping from Joshua Doble kept them at bay. It was ironic, therefore, that a slip by the Charterhouse keeper should allow Canford to open the scoring after just seven minutes. The barrage continued throughout the half and it was remarkable that Doble was able to keep his goal intact. Then, in the 28th minute, Charterhouse finally got into the game: a quick break found Oliver Greenhalgh in front of goal and a cynical foul on him gave Charterhouse a penalty stroke. The thought of drawing level after such a bettering was evidently too much for the home side and James Kinsey’s feeble effort gave the Canford ‘keeper little trouble.

Just when it looked like Charterhouse might get to half time just one goal down, the opposition scored from a short corner two minutes before the break and doubled their lead. Ian Hamilton, the Charterhouse coach, exhorted greater efforts from his men and they came out after half time in determined mood. They came close to scoring, too, earning three short corners but were unable to convert any of them. Canford, on the other hand, had a whole variety of possibilities and the second half became little more than a chance for the visitors to go through the full range of their routines.

It says much for Doble’s goalkeeping that all the goals scored in the second half came from short corners, for Canford certainly created enough chances in open play to have scored more.

In the end, Charterhouse had been taught a lesson by a team which was not only a very efficient unit but which also displayed the vital ability to keep the ball and to pass it on with pace, while harrying like terriers when they lost possession. They are likely to go a long way in this year’s competition.

Anastasia Chitty and Alex Wilding took part in the Junior Rowing Trials on the Great Ouse, Lincolnshire in snowy conditions.

Anastasia sculled well in a highly competitive field of 56.
The Canford girl set out to achieve a place in the top ten so coming home in 6th more than fulfilled her ambitions for the day.

The following day Anastasia joined pair partner Sarah Lonergan to row the 5 kilometre course coming home in fine style in 2nd place. This is an encouraging performance for the sixteen year old who has carved a niche for herself amongst her older rivals for a place on this year’s British rowing teams.

Alex Wilding, one of Canford’s top boys, came home richer for the experience finishing 40th in single sculls and 36th in the coxless pair.

Four Bedford Modern School students and talented Table Tennis stars have been selected by The English Schools’ Table Tennis Association (ESTTA) to represent their country at the International School Sport Federation (ISF) World Schools’ Table Tennis Championships to be held in the Czech Republic between 25th and 31st March.
Bedford Modern School’s Table Tennis Team includes Year 11 student Alex Farmer, Year 10 student Joshua Robinson, Year 9 student Nishanth Narayanan and Year 11 student Harpreet Rupal.

Paul Birch, Bedford Modern School Table Tennis Coach said: “This is only the second time in the School’s history that BMS has been invited to take part in the ISF World Schools’ Table Tennis Championships. The last time the School competed was in 1995 and to be picked again this year is absolutely fantastic.
“This generation of BMS table tennis players can now experience the honour of representing their country and Alex, Joshua, Nishanth and Harpreet have all worked very hard to get where they are today.”
The Bedford Modern School squad will compete in the initial stages of the Tournament by playing teams from Ireland, Poland, Malta and Slovakia. The BMS team will be led by No. 1 player Joshua Robinson.

Photo: Bedford Modern School Table Tennis Team who will be representing their country (l-r: Alex Farmer, Joshua Robinson, Nishanth Narayanan and Harpreet Rupal)

19-12 win in closely-contested match v Plymouth College

Wednesday 2 December saw the final of the Devon U18 rugby cup, which was played at Exeter School between the holders, Plymouth College, and Exeter School. The two sides met last year in the final and once this season: Plymouth were the victors by a narrow margin on both occasions. This fixture had particular significance for both sides: it acted as a double-header, because it was also contested as the 6th Round match in the Daily Mail U18 Cup.

The match was competitive and athletic, in reasonable weather for early December, and took place in front of a large crowd. After an early Exeter break away try by James Collett, Plymouth narrowed the gap to one point by kicking two penalties. Two tries by Cameron Hansson gave Exeter a good lead, but Plymouth pushed them all the way, scoring two further penalties. Exeter held on to win 19-12, becoming Devon champions and qualifying for the last 16 nationally in the Daily Mail competition.
A number of the Upper Sixth (Year 13) members of the Exeter side, including the captain, Charlie Taverner, are now quadruple Devon champions, having won the U13, U14, U15 and U18 trophies in their time at the school.

Approximately 70 Bedford Modern School students took part in the Hampton Head races on the River Thames, by Hampton Court, on Saturday 6th February. The BMS squads ranged from the Junior 14s up to the Junior 18s, with a strong support team to match.
From the amount of red and black that was present at the event, it was clear that Bedford Modern School meant business; even the new Headmaster, Mr Michael Hall, came to support the day’s events.
At Hampton Head, for the first time in Bedford Modern School history, there were almost an equal number of girls to boys, with the J14 Girls achieving commendable success at their first away event.

With Hampton Head being the first major event of 2010, the BMS 1st VIII had a superb win, beating Hampton School by five seconds. Well done to Todd Cartwright (cox), Will Gale, Alex Robertson, Greg Edwards, James Powell, Andy Taylor, Tom Sweeting, Matt Bowman and Ed Munno.
This sets the BMS squad in good stead for future events. With the season not even halfway through, this promises to be an “oarsome” season for Bedford Modern School.
Alistair Brown, Director of Rowing at Bedford Modern School said, “For me, the real success was not just winning the Hampton Head, but also making School history by entering the first BMS Girls’ Octuple at the Hampton Head.

Photo: The winning BMS 1st VIII

Fencers from Mount St Mary’s College made a point by sweeping the board in their first ever regional competition.

Members of the senior team proved how mighty their swords are by winning a total of four medals at the Lancashire Schools Foil.

James Proudfoot, head boy at Mount St Mary’s, based at Spinkhill, in Derbyshire, won gold in the under 20s boys competition.

Thomas Cotterill, winner of the Mount St Mary’s Senior Fencing Trophy for 2009, secured silver and Thomas Voice won bronze in the same event, while Benedikt Gers reached the quarter finals of the boys under 17 category.

There was success too for the girls, with Phoebe Lui winning a bronze medal in the under 20 class.

The senior team were competing as guests at the Stonyhurst College competition, led by newly appointed Mount St Mary’s coach Mr Adam Blight.

Adam has 15 years experience in the sport and has worked with some of the finest fencers in the country including nine British champions in various age groups and the player ranked number three in the world.

Adam said: “Congratulations to the fencers for their outstanding performances in what was the senior team’s first external competition.

“The results are a testament to the hard work and dedication shown by the pupils in preparation for this event and the coaching support from fencing master Mr Jenkins.

“Fencing has been a popular games option for many years at the school this set of results places us in a really strong position to qualify for the British Youth Championships and the Independent Schools Championships in March.”

Photo: Mr Steven Jenkins (third from the left), long-time fencing master and former head of English at Mount St Mary’s, with members of the school’s senior fencing team.

Hurst Lodge School, Ascot has recently been visited by Becky Wing a British Championships Gold Medal winner in gymnastics. Becky comes from Farnborough in Hampshire and is an extremely stylish, mature and elegant young performer who stands out for her high level skills, great dance ability, and for the beautiful quality of her work. Hers is undoubtedly a name to look out for in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

Also present was Paul Reeve representing Sports for Schools in ‘The 2012 Inspirational Campaign’. Sports for Schools wishes to encourage young pupils through this scheme to help reduce the amount of health problems faced in today’s society. Changing the culture in modern society via encouraging children to see sport and fitness as the “norm”, not a chore, is crucial to tackling these health epidemics.

The session started with a fitness circuit in which all of the junior school plus Years 7 and 8 children enthusiastically took part. This was a sponsored event and the money collected is to be split between the school, to purchase sporting equipment, and the other half going to the “Development of Young Athletes” hosted by the Sports for Schools organisation.

The Kindergarten and a representation of senior students then joined the audience to watch Megan Rhodes, a Year 11 pupil perform a dance, choreographed by the Hurst Lodge Dance Department, followed by a gymnastics display given by Becky. There was then a question and answer session to round off the highly enjoyable afternoon.

Hurst Lodge wishes Becky and the School for Sports campaign every success in the future.

The selection followed outstanding performances from both boys representing ŒThe South¹ in Sunday¹s ŒNorth vs South¹ of England Barbarians match held on ¹The Close¹ at prestigious Rugby School. Kieran Kelly as Flanker scored a stunning individual try running from his own 22 and took the captaincy of the game during the fourth quarter of the match. Alex Hall at Centre was awarded with ŒMan of the Southern Team¹ for his excellent play which included some crunching tackles and assistance in setting up a try with Kelly, which saw the team win by 41-17.

Commenting on the boys¹ success, Mr Gerard Hobern, Headmaster of Prior Park Prep School said: ‘This is a huge honour for Alex and Kieran and for Prior Park Prep School. We must also thank the coaches here at Prior Park as well as those at Cirencester Rugby Club where both boys train and play. We wish them both all the very best with the England team.’

Following on from Strathallan’s continued success at the British Schools Clay Pigeon Championships, the School has now launched a Clay Pigeon Shooting Academy.

This will take the form of talented and gifted pupils being selected to join the Academy where International coach Iain MacGregor, the only ISSFA Licence Shotgun coach presently in the UK, will provide first class instruction.

The individuals will represent the School at Scottish and British Championships and work towards achieving International Honours. Strathallan has been the Scottish Schools Champions twelve times in the last fifteen years and has finished in the top three at the British Schools Championships five times in recent years.

Iain MacGregor said “This is a very exciting time for the team at Strathallan and I commend the School for its support and commitment to this sport. The Academy, with its new range and improved facilities will provide excellent opportunities for the selected pupils.”

Three recent Strathallan pupils have gone on to gain International honours, Keith Brown won his first cap for Scotland last year, Rory Gibson is a member of the Junior Development Olympic Skeet Training Squad for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Fraser Rawlinson is a member of the junior Development Sporting Squad. Strathallan is looking forward to growing and developing the talents of many other pupils at the School as well as working with talented individuals and teams for Prep Schools.

Competing for the first time in 2010 at the Burns Meet in Sheffield, Bedford Modern School Year 12 student, Adam Ingledew took convincing wins in his age group (Males 15/16yrs) in 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle, together with a 4th place in 100m Butterfly – all in personal best times.

In addition Adam’s 100m Freestyle time was a qualifying time for the British Championships and Commonwealth Trials to be held at the end of March.

The Burns Meet was held at Ponds Forge Pool, Sheffield and took place over the weekend of Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January. The event was a preparation meet for the Commonwealth Trials.

“Last weekend’s result was a big confidence boost and I am looking forward to swimming even faster in March at the British Championships and Commonwealth Trials,” said Adam.

Photo: Bedford Modern School Year 12 student Adam Ingledew

Bedford Modern School Year 10 students, Jason Attwood and Ruaidhri Meghen are following on from last year’s waterpolo success by having been selected for the England Talent Group for Boys born in 1995 and 1996.
Jason, along with Year 12 students, Matt Leydon and Ben Jarman, represented the East Region in the National Division 2 Championships recently. All played well with Ben Jarman managing to net twice in the Tournament and Matt Leydon making a string of fine saves in the goal. The Region finished 4th, winning one and losing three games. BMS Master in Charge, Tim Whitwham, was the Team Manager.
The Girls’ Waterpolo Competition will be taking place over the weekend of 13th and 14th February. The Region’s team boast three Bedford Modern School girls in Year 10 students, Billie Scholten, Holly Rooney and Ros Latham and two former students in Amy and Rebecca Ennion who learnt to play waterpolo at BMS. Tim Whitwham has been invited to coach the team.
All the players have been, or are presently involved in, the National Development Programme run through the Regional Training Centres. Bedford Modern School hosts one for the Region and the scheme is part of the build up to and legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games

Photo: Some of the BMS Waterpolo players who have been making waves

Bromsgrove School’s Netballers represented Worcestershire in the West Midlands finals last week (Saturday 28th January).

The U16 team from the Worcester Road school beat Ludlow 12-4, Hereford Cathedral School 20-1, Streetly School 15-4, Walton High School 10-4 and Bablake 13-1.

Bromsgrove went through as winners of that pool which meant they faced Newcastle-under-Lyme in the semi-final which they won convincingly, 14-4. In the final they then faced King Edwards Camp Hill and cruised to a 17-10 victory to become West Midlands champions.

Mrs Emma Buckingham, Head of Girls’ Games says “Yet again we have an outstanding team in the National Finals. We look forward to the finals on 20th March at Rodean School, Brighton and hope to capitalise on our success”.

Four boys from Bishop’s Stortford College Junior School have been selected for the East Area U13 football squad to play in the Independent Schools Football Association annual festival at Repton School on March 28th and 29th. The boys staved off strong competition from rivals of a number of leading schools in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk to secure their places in the squad after trials which took place at King’s Ely School at the weekend.

All the more remarkable is that only one of the boys, twelve year old Tom Harnack from Sawbridgeworth, is attached to a football club. Tom is goalkeeper for Bishop’s Stortford Community U12’s and has trained with the Leyton Orient youth team. The three other boys to be selected, George Silk, Matthew Dodds and Harry Calder, were all members of the winning Bishop’s Stortford College team that triumphed in last season’s East Area Soccer Sixes tournament. These three are currently playing rugby for BSRFC on a Sunday and thus only play football in school. Earlier in the season George Silk scored ten goals in a match against local rivals Felsted!

David Herd, head of football at the College, commented, “This is a tremendous achievement for the boys. Should they do well at the festival they have a chance to represent the England Prep Schools squad. Tom Harnack should be particularly proud of his call up as he has another year to go in this age group.’’

Photograph(l to r: Tom Harnack, Matthew Dodds, George Silk, Harry Calder

Bedford Modern School Year 13 student Marek Behnke won a Gold Medal in the Giant Slalom whilst competing in the British Schoolboys’ Skiing Races held in Meiringen, Switzerland from 24th to 26th January.

Marek has also been selected by the British Skier Cross co-ordinator to ski Europa Cup this season which is a great honour. Europa Cup is the level below the World Cup that is seen on television and is the first step to getting into the GB Squad for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Another success for the School was BMS Year 10 student Edmund Fenton Fowler who took second place in one of the two Giant Slalom races in his age group. Amazingly, his run was so fast that he was sixth fastest overall beating all but four of the junior category racers (aged 15-18) who were racing the same course. Those he bettered included one already in the National Squad, so in his first outing in a European Alpine Competition, Edmund has certainly proved his talent.

David Orton, Head of Games at Bedford Modern School said, “I was delighted by Marek and Edmund’s personal successes, as both of them are totally committed to their sport. However, it was also a wonderful experience for all the BMS boys who competed and I was very proud of them, as the poor visibility and persistent snow made for very difficult conditions.”

Photo: Edmund Fenton Fowler in action

Jessica Blackmore, a Year 9 day girl at the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, is the youngest rider to have been given permission by the Australian Equestrian Federation to represent Australia at international dressage events in Junior Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) tests. She is currently the only junior rider Australia has on the International Tour. Jessica competed in the High Profile Dressage at Addington Manor over the weekend of 22nd to 24th January 2010 and came 3rd in the FEI Junior Individual.

Jessica has been riding since she was three years old and comes from a family with a reputation for success in dressage in Australia. Thekla Blackmore, Jessica’s mother, competed at National FEI level dressage for a number of years and trained Jessica in her formative riding years. The family moved from Australia to the UK in 2008 and Jessica now trains at the Talland School of Equitation with Pammy Hutton, Justine Sole and Richard Preston. Jessica manages to successfully combine her life at College with her rigorous dressage training schedule, which includes sessions at weekends and every afternoon after school. Don Romeo, her current international horse, and Jessica have only competed together at Advanced Medium and Junior FEI level twice. They have won or been placed in both competitions. Her second horse, Ventoux, is competing at Elementary level.

Jessica said, “College and my friends are very supportive of me and understand that I don’t have much spare time outside of school. I have always dreamt of riding internationally and it makes me very proud to know that I have now opened the door for other Australian juniors to do the same as me in the future.’

In April 2010 Jessica will compete at the Addington Manor International Dressage Competition and also hopes to ride at Hickstead in July 2010.

Pupils at Christ College and equestrian enthusiasts in the local area are set to benefit from a sponsorship deal between Christ College and the Brecon & Talybont Hunt Pony Club.

The five year deal will see Christ College become a key partner with the club and assisting them in the development of the planned new cross country course at Glanusk Park in the Usk Valley. Christ College will also help to promote the new equestrian facility, ensuring new and more experienced riders are able to take part.

Liza Watson, District Commissioner of the local Pony Club said: “We have an extraordinary opportunity, with the support of Christ College, to build a flagship course and to bring the best of riding opportunities to the children in the area.”

Situated between Brecon and Abergavenny, the project at Glanusk will be designed by David Evans, who was part of the team who designed and built the of 2008 Olympic course, and is being built and project-managed by accredited British Eventing designer, Dominic Moore. This will ensure the course has a full range of fences of a standard to hold Pony Club area and regional competitions.

It will provide the facilities to hold at least three two-day competitions per year, as well as Pony Club rallies, an exciting prospect for the already established Christ College Equestrian Team.

Steve Maggs, Development Director at Christ College said: “We are really looking forward to working with the local Pony Club in establishing this new facility and to play a prominent role in their events.”

Christ College already boasts an international equestrian in the form of 14 year old Lauren Williams who has represented Wales in polocross, and is also a member of the Brecon & Talybont Hunt Pony Club.

For younger and less-experienced riders, the plans for Glanusk Park also include development of a ‘mini’ course, which will introduce new riders to cross-country jumps.

The Colts team from Chafyn Grove School has just won the Sherborne Under 11 Hockey Tournament. Fifteen schools took part in the one day tournament. In spite of strong opposition in the early stages Chafyn managed to win three and draw three of the six group games, qualifying for a place in the semi finals. They then beat Portsmouth Grammar School and went on to play Hazlegrove in the final. One excellent goal was enough to secure victory and they were thrilled to win the cup. Team coach, Mr Dave Renham, declared himself ‘delighted with the boys’ effort. They were outstanding all day.’

Bedford Modern School’s Year 10 student, Edmund Fenton Fowler will be watching the action in the Winter Olympics closely next month. Ed spent last winter training with the prestigious Red Mountain Racers Ski Racing Academy in British Columbia and came home with a clutch of medals, including winning the 2009 British Columbia U15 Male Ski Cross Championship and reaching the quarter finals of the Western Canada U15 Male Ski Cross Championships.
However ski cross, a new sport in the Winter Olympics for the first time this year, was just a fun distraction for Ed who had never tried it before. Ed, whose favourite alpine skiing disciplines are Giant Slalom and Super G, trains locally at Xscape Milton Keynes with the Bedford Modern Ski Club and the SkiMK Race Team and in the Alps with a former England children’s team coach and selector and he has a busy schedule of competitions lined up this winter in Europe with the aim of qualifying for selection to the England Alpine Team.
Ed and his colleagues in the Bedford Modern Ski Team are heading for the mountains of Switzerland this weekend to compete in the British Schoolboys International Races in Meiringen. Ed will be racing in the English Championships in Italy over the half-term break hoping for some excellent results to lead into the British Championships in France in April.
Patrick Jerram, Director of Sport at Bedford Modern School said, “Edmund has worked really hard over the past 12 months which is starting to pay dividends. I am confident he will be able to transfer his recent good form into success both for the School next week and in his personal quest to make the national team. I wish him and all our excellent young skiers at BMS the best of luck in Meiringen next week.”

Photo: Edmund Fenton Fowler in action in Canada doing speed training

Matt, a sixth former, is currently in New Zealand, ready to compete in the ICC Under-19 World Cup which takes place from January 16th -30th, 2010. The bi-annual tournament involves 16 teams with England facing Afghanistan, Hong Kong and India in the group stages.
The squad left the UK on January 1st for Wellington, New Zealand, where they spent time acclimatising before reporting to Christchurch for the start of the World Cup. England plays in two warm-up matches against Papua New Guinea U19 on January 11 and New Zealand U19 on January 12.
England’s first match in the group stages will be against Hong Kong on January 16th, followed by Afghanistan on January 18 and India, the current World Cup holders, on January 20th. The top two teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals.
Headmaster Stephen Aiano comments: “This is such an exciting time for Matt and everyone at Bearwood is following the team’s progress closely. The team has this fantastic opportunity to test themselves against some of the most talented young cricketers in the world. We wish them all the best and hope he will be back celebrating success at school soon.”

Ten-year-old Molly Griffith was awarded the badge after her sister wrote and told Blue Peter about her disability, a hemiplegia resulting from a brain haemorrhage due to extreme prematurity. In spite of her disability, Molly has not only learned to ski but has also won medals for racing and has skied down some of the toughest (black) runs.

A member of the Midlands Ski Club, Molly trains at the Ackers Trust dry ski slope each week. Never one to turn down a challenge Molly first took to the slopes, aged three, with her mother, before learning to ski independently from six. Now a veteran of black runs – and ski lifts – she accompanies her parents to the Alps each year and joins her able-bodied peers at ski school.

Molly, who needs botox injections and her leg in plaster before skiing each February, has benefited greatly from the sport. Her mum, Dr Ursula Griffith, explained: ‘Skiing has helped Molly tremendously. Not only is it helpful in terms of physio, balance and strengthening her legs, but it’s also been great for her self esteem. Technically, she has to be very precise as she can’t rely on sheer strength.’

A star performance from a very modest young lady!

Kevin Barrett OS is England’s captain for the Emirates Airline IRB Sevens. Kevin Barrett, who left Stonyhurst in 1998 and is currently with Saracens, was part of the Stonyhurst Sevens squad which won The National Rosslyn Park Schoolboy Sevens in 1997. Last season, he helped England to win the cup trophies at the Wellington and London legs of the IRB Sevens World Series.
There are 8 tournaments in the Emirates Airline IRB Sevens series and 2 were played last month, in Dubai and South Africa.
“I am really excited to be captain. Ben Ryan gave me the news and I feel very privileged but we have lots of leaders in the team, like Ben Gollings, Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu and James Rodwell so I’m hoping I can call on all of them.” said Barrett. “We benefitted from going out a bit earlier this year and had some great training sessions. I’ve been playing sevens for a while now but to go out as captain is always a proud moment and I’m really enjoying it.”
In South Africa, England won their pool, beating Argentina, Scotland and Tunisia. They then lost 19-22 to New Zealand which put them in the Plate semi-final where they beat Australia 24-5 before winning the Plate beating South Africa 21-7.
In Dubai, England again won their pool, beating Kenya, Russia and the USA. They then beat Argentina 17-12 in the Cup quarter final, before losing the semi-final 19-28 to Samoa. The remaining 6 tournaments will take place in New Zealand, USA, Australia, Kong Kong, England and Scotland. Each tournament carries a points system and overall, England currently lie third on 28 points behind Fiji (36) and New Zealand (48).

For more information, go to http://www.irb.com/irbsevens/schedule.html

A talented young swimmer from Saint Felix School, Southwold, has broken the Scottish Junior record for 200m butterfly.

The Scottish teenager, Bryony Campbell, 15, took part in the Eastern Region Winter Championships at the UEA last weekend, beating the original record of 2.13 by one second.

A delighted Bryony said she wasn’t aware of her success until the race was over: “I didn’t know anything about the record until someone told me I had broken it later on. I just wanted to focus on my own race and try my hardest.

“I was going to give up swimming a couple of years ago but then I came to Saint Felix and the staff and facilities made me want to get back into it. I’m now looking ahead to the next counties race and then the meet in Sheffield. Then I’ve got Commonwealth Games trials in Scotland.”

Bryony also won the Junior title at the weekend, also coming first in the 400m and 200m front crawl races. She went on to take first place in the 100m butterfly and set a new Eastern Region record of 1.02 beating last year’s record of 1.04 which she also set.

Three Dean Close pupils have this week achieved the highest sporting accolade – to be selected for the England team in their various sports.

Abi Porter is 15 years old and has just secured a place in the England U16 hockey team, having gone through various junior and regional performance camps. Abi, a Sports Scholar, plays centre forward in the Dean Close 1st XI. She was due to go on hockey tour with the School to South Africa next summer but is unable to go due to her new England commitments. These fixtures will include matches against top European sides such as Germany, Holland and Spain.

Sophie Watkiss has secured a place in the England U20 Rugby team, having gained her experience with the Worcester Warriors. She is also a Sports Scholar, in her final year and is the Dean Close 1st XI Hockey captain. She toured Holland with the 1st XI hockey team in September this year.

Tom Pinnegar, a Sports Scholar and also our Head of School, currently trains with Cannock Hockey Club, one of the top teams in the country, and played a key role in Dean Close’s winning of the 2009 National U18 Hockey Championships. After a rigorous selection process this autumn, Tom made the cut for the England U18 squad and cannot wait for his first cap when he becomes an international. He is particularly looking forward to travelling, which will give him the chance to see another country and visit a different culture. “I’m keen to play against a team that doesn’t speak the same language as I do” said Tom. His ambition is to move on to the U 21 category, then the England Seniors and his ultimate goal is to play for Great Britain in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero. Watch this space!

Headmaster, Jonathan Lancashire, said: “These are all exceptional achievements. We are thrilled that their talent and incredible dedication have been recognised at such a high level. The experience of competing in international competitions cannot be underestimated and we look forward to the rewards that this experience will in turn bring back to the School.”

A large snowman stood at the entrance to Cranfield University sports hall to greet the Year 9 badminton squad as they embarked on their quest to become county champions for the second successive year.

He may well have had cold feet but the Upper 4 girls remained undaunted and warmed to their task in a flurry of activity as they took on Stopsley and Stratton.

Hana Staddon showed the value of hitting long and hitting down in her singles matches. She moved her opponents around the court to good effect and had two impressive singles wins.

Alice Devaney made good use of the drop shot in her doubles matches and punished the short clearance with unerring regularity. They were well supported by Harry Elston, Georgina Hind and Louisa Cocksedge as they ran out 5-0 winners against Stopsley and 3-2 victors against Stratton.

Congratulations to all the girls on becoming COUNTY CHAMPIONS for 2010!

They will now represent Bedfordshire in the Regional Round on 5 March in Cambridgeshire.

The Christmas Term saw history being made as a team of show jumpers represented Barrow Hills at an inter school show jumping competition at the hallowed ground of the All England Show jumping Course at Hickstead. In all, 14 teams were represented from prep and public schools across the South East. The course was big and bold and some fences were quite spooky catching a few riders out. Our team were in very grand company competing against a GB pony team European medallist, so competition was very tough. Holly, Emily, Matty and Ayesha all rode beautifully and were turned out immaculately, looking very smart in the ‘Barrow Hills’ saddle cloths. Team spirit was strong and they came home with a very respectable 10th place and with the coveted ‘Hickstead’ rosettes for their great efforts. Well done to all the team who did their school proud.
There is obviously lots of riding talent at school as during the summer holidays, sisters Sophie, 12 and Amelia, 10 competed in two big show jumping events in South Africa. The first was the Witkoppen Show where they both finished 2nd in separate classes. The following week was the Phaeton Park show Amelia won first prize in her main class, but also competed at 90cm and had a clear round – which is an extraordinary effort as she was the youngest by far in the class at a level that is only two grades below full international status for girls up to 14.

Bedford Modern School Year 9 student, Dom Chandler, aged 13, has recently been awarded the Cutting Edge Gold Youth Development Award and Platinum Competition Licence for 2010 by British Waterski, the highest level available to youth skiers under the age of 16.

His main objectives for 2010 are to improve both his slalom and trick ski disciplines and beat his slalom personal best.

Dom started skiing two years ago shortly after the new lakes at Box End Park opened, occupying 100 acres in rural Bedfordshire. He progressed from two skis to one (mono) ski and mastered the difficult deep water start. In May of this year he first attempted the slalom course which he can now fully run. He attended a summer water ski school at South Lake Ski School where he was introduced to trick skiing. He has also trained at Ellingham ski club near Ringwood with Dutch slalom champion, Jamie Bloemsma.

The Youth Development Award acts as the gateway to competitive water skiing for young skiers in this country and qualifies you to enter for all British Water Ski sanctioned competitions including the British Nationals.

Dom said “Waterskiing is a great sport where everyone helps each other. I would like to especially thank my slalom coach, Nigel Munn (Box End Park) for all his help, advice and encouragement. I hope one day to be as good as him. “

Bedford Modern School Director of Sport, Patrick Jerram said “I am really pleased for Dom and it is impressive that he has achieved the top award available to the U16s within two years of taking up the sport. I hope Dom continues to develop at such a rate and wish him the very best of luck in his upcoming competitions.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School student, Dom Chandler, who has recently been awarded the Gold Youth Development Award and Platinum Competition Licence for 2010 by British Water Ski

New sponsors unveiled at Christ College
Rugby teams at Christ College Brecon are set to benefit from one of the largest ever sporting sponsorship deals in the schools history.

Welsh insurance broking to financial services company Thomas, Carroll Group PLC – which is shortly to establish its first office in Brecon – has signed a support package to sponsor and part-fund the school’s rugby activities over the next three years.

True to its major sporting connections – including headline sponsorship of local cricket leagues in South Wales – Thomas, Carroll brought in two of its most prominent insurance broking directors to complete the signing – Wales and British Lions rugby greats Brynmor Williams and Robert Jones MBE.

They were joined by their new colleague Des Parry, also a keen sportsman and coach, who will head up the new Brecon office when it opens shortly.

The company’s heraldic Pendragon emblem and name will now appear on the front of College rugby shirts, led by the 1st XV and 2nd XV sides. As well as funding kit, the sponsorship package will also help in the purchase of updated rugby equipment as required by the school in coming years.

Brynmor Williams, 1st XV Captain Max Proctor & Robert Jones MBE
Announcing the contract, Steve Maggs, Development Director at Christ College said: “We are delighted to be able to unveil the Thomas, Carroll Group PLC as sponsors of rugby at Christ College Brecon. We look forward to working with them over the next three years and beyond, to ensure that all pupils who enjoy rugby at Christ College receive the benefit of their investment.”

Des Parry, Senior Account Executive of Thomas, Carroll Brecon said: “Having personally been involved in Brecon’s sporting life for many years; I am thrilled to be bringing this welcome sponsorship and support to Christ College. This is just start of Thomas, Carroll’s relationship with the school and I am sure we will be actively supporting more areas of the school’s sporting and other activities in years to come.”

Steve Maggs added: “It is an added bonus that we are able to call on professionals like Robert Jones MBE and Brynmor Williams, who not only understand the intricacies of the commercial world, but have first hand experience of the sporting world at the highest level. We see this development as a partnership and look forward to building our own development activities with this important Welsh plc in future.”

Oswestry School has completed the refurbishment of the tennis courts at Welsh Walls, to provide a flood-lit, all-weather surface with facilities for tennis, mini tennis and netball.

The versatility of the two new courts is also greatly enjoyed by the children of Oswestry School Bellan House, since it provides them with an extra play area for use during their break times. Bellan House children will also receive tennis coaching as part of their sports lessons.

‘I am delighted to have been able to include the courts as part of our on-going school development plans,’ said Mr Paul Stockdale, Headmaster of Oswestry School. ‘As well as improving the School’s sports facilities, we are very pleased that it will benefit the community, in that Oswestry Tennis Club will also be making extensive use of the courts.’

Photo: Bellan House pupils enjoy their break time on the new all-weather surface

Welsh Champions 2009
In horrendous conditions the Christ College Senior Girls’ team ploughed through the mud and rain to bring home the silverware and retain their title of Welsh Champions.

Having won the trophy last year the girls were delighted to repeat their success this year, and with most of the team available next year a hat-trick of wins remains a possibility.

Potential future Welsh International Ellie Davies led the team home in 15th overall position, followed by Hannah Meinertzhagen in 20th.

Good packing by team captain Ellen Gowans finishing in 22nd place, closely followed by Sophie Meinertzhagen 23rd and Natasha Trigg 24th ensured overall victory.

The Welsh Schools Athletics Association’s Inter Schools Cross Country championships took place on the 14th November at Penlan, Brecon.

Evie Paterson, student at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and member of the British Junior Eventing Team in 2009, has been awarded the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS). Her seven year old horse, Direct Supreme, has also been put on the Equine Pathway.

TASS is a Government funded programme which supports and fast-tracks young sporting talent. Evie submitted her application to the British Eventing Federation in August 2009 who in turn recommended Evie to be considered for TASS. Evie learnt that she had been awarded the TASS at the end of November. The award runs until the end of 2010 and will provide Evie with financial support for Eventing together with a tailored package of services and training facilities. The Equine Pathway looks for world-class and medal winning horses and identifies horses through results linked to different age groups or through viewing of the horses. Its aim is to have horses compete and challenge for medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2014 World Equestrian Games and 2016 Olympic Games. Evie and Direct Supreme will benefit from free support and training with the Olympic trainers in order to reach their full potential.

Evie successfully combines her busy Eventing schedule with her life at College where she is an Academic and Sports Scholar. She will be taking A Levels in English, French, History and Maths next summer, is a keen member of the College Debating Team and regularly represents College at Hockey.

Evie said, ‘It is such an honour to have been recognised as a talented athlete worthy of the award particularly because I had heard that TASS were reducing the number of awards given to Eventers this year. I am absolutely thrilled. Next season I will be aiming Direct Supreme at his first Two Star and at the British Junior Team for the Junior European Championships in 2010.’

Photo: Evie Paterson on Direct Supreme at the British Junior Championships in Norfolk

Talented Farnborough Hill student, Georgia Peel, has been named ‘Sporting Schoolgirl of the Year’ in the School Sport Magazine awards. This follows her award of the Michael May Cup for the single outstanding performance in 2008/9 by the Hampshire Schools’ Sports Federation.

Georgia’s achievement was to win the English Schools’ Athletics Association national 1500m title for Intermediate girls. What was remarkable about her achievement was that she smashed a 30 year old record by running the race in a time of 4 minutes 16.24 seconds, beating the record by almost 8 seconds. Georgia’s time represents a phenomenal 2 seconds a lap improvement on a record that has stood the test of time from famous athletes who have gone on to win medals many times on the World stage. All of this from an athlete who is still young for her age group in the competition and so has the chance to improve again on her record next season.

The Hampshire Schools’ Sports Federation write ‘This is quite an outstanding achievement, probably the best performance by any young athlete last season across the whole nation.’ Phil Tusler, publishing editor of School Sport Magazine said: “This has been a remarkable year for competitive sport in schools and the awards are a celebration of that. We had hundreds of nominations this year and deciding the winners has been a difficult but very rewarding endeavour. Georgia is a real talent for the future.” Sarah Buckle, Headmistress of Farnborough Hill, says ‘We are incredibly proud of Georgia’s achievements. She is immensely talented but also extremely modest. She trains very hard and the whole school cheered when her award was announced in Assembly this morning. Georgia is at present in Qatar having been selected to run in the ISF World School Athletics Championships. This is a great opportunity for Georgia and the whole school wish her well.’

A Derbyshire school has set up a new educational partnership in Australia providing sixth form pupils with the chance to head ‘down under’.

Mount St Mary’s College has developed an exchange programme with St Aloysius School, in Sydney, whereby every year two leavers can travel to Australia for a gap year.

As part of the exchange programme, Mount St Mary’s will also be welcoming gap students from St Aloysius.

Daniel Westmoreland, Mount St Mary’s Head Boy from 2007-08, was one of the first pupils to benefit from the schools’ links with St Aloysius – spending his gap year at the Jesuit grammar school.

Murray Happ, St Aloysius’ director of development, recently visited Mount St Mary’s for a tour and to meet and answer questions from some of the hopeful candidates.

Mount St Mary’s headmaster, Laurence McKell said: “We are delighted to be able to formalise this arrangement, as the Australia gap year experience is a wonderful way for our pupils to take a worthwhile year out between school and university.

“We are proud of our connections with other Jesuit schools and committed to developing similar links with schools from around the world. Daniel spent a thoroughly enjoyable year in Australia and we hope many more pupils can benefit from this exchange in the future.”

Daniel was not the only Old Mountaineer to enjoy an exciting adventure abroad courtesy of the school’s international connections.

Adam Gaskell, last year’s Head Boy, spent the summer in Hong Kong where he gained valuable work experience working for Old Mountaineer Geoffrey Chan – a lawyer in a major firm.

Adam said: “The work placement was the experience of a lifetime and I am very grateful to Mr Chan for giving me this opportunity.”

Mr McKell added said: “Both boys had wonderful experiences and we look forward to maintaining and strengthening our international connections so all our pupils can have the opportunities Adam and Daniel did.”

Photo:(L-R) Mount St Mary’s pupils James Proudfoot, Abbie Shearstone and Frances Clarke with Murray Happ, St Aloysius director of development.

RGS Worcester’s state of the art fitness suite has been officially opened by the Worcester Warriors.

Jonny Arr, Aussie legend Chris Latham and All Black sensation Rico Gear cut the ribbon at the school’s modern Butler Fitness Suite in front of pupils and sports staff today.

The players, accompanied by Keir Hansen, Warriors Strength & Conditioning Coach, – who had just led a seminar with pupils in regard to strength and conditioning training – were clearly impressed with what had been achieved at the school post merger with The Alice Ottley School and the vast £6.3 million development.

After the visit ex pupil of RGS Worcester Jonny Arr said,

“The new Fitness Suite is fantastic, I wish this facility had been in place when I was here.”

“The school has changed a lot in a very short space of time. RGS gave me so much during my time here, not just benefiting my rugby, but also my education. I know these new additions will be a great help to future pupils and who knows, with a suite like this, future Warriors stars as well!” added Jonny Arr.

A delighted Tim Curtis, RGS Worcester Director of Sport commented,

“We are all extremely proud of the Fitness Suite and how it is used throughout the school.”

“RGS Worcester already has a national reputation for sporting excellence, but to have a facility like this is a real privilege. Kier has inspired us today with the importance of strength and conditioning. This facility enables all our pupils (and staff!) to put his words into practice.”

The former Worcestershire Country Cricket Club captain and England International adding,

“The Butler Fitness Suite has the specification of a top professional gym but it doesn’t just look good, it is user friendly. Separate air-conditioned areas house aerobic machines, rowing ergometers, free and controlled weights as well as there being a stretching, warm down area. This makes workouts safe, highly effective and hugely motivating for all our pupils and staff from 7.15am till going home time.”

Contrary to the score line, on the pitch the action lived up to the electric atmosphere with a resurgent RGS controlling the ball and tempo of the match during an extremely even encounter.

Both teams endured a hard fought contest that could have easily gone either way, using the kicking game to play for territory and hard defence in order to capitalise on opposition mistakes.

A first half penalty from the boot of RGS fly-half Bill Harling, proved to be the only points of the match.

It was a game where unity and teamwork counted; with the power of the RGS forwards making small gains and controlling the clock, while allowing space for the well-drilled backs led brilliantly by Captain Bill Harling to focus on their kicking game, find in-roads up the field and distribute the play – while also putting their bodies on the line to stop the occasional light footed King’s back from making a break.

Full Back Will Short also proved to be a constant thorn in the King’s side constantly looking to jink and side step his way up the field, supported magnificently by Winger Steve Ndumbe, who always seemed to be ready for the ball and the power of Lock Dan Staines.

With the final whistle gone, there was a clear divide of jubilation and despair in the camps, but both teams must be proud of the night and the spectacle they created. The crowd of 3000 supporters sportingly cheered both teams as they left the pitch.

Warriors scrum-half and ex RGS Worcester pupil Jonny Arr and Roger Marshall, Managing Director of Modus Creative awarded the Modus Challenge Cup to the winning RGS skipper, in front of his victorious team and the thousands in attendance. 



A great end to a thrilling evening of nail-biting rugby.

Nottingham High School pupil and national relay orienteering champion, James Taylor, 18, has been accepted for the 2009/10 Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, (TASS), for the second year running.
James is one of twenty one British orienteers to be awarded TASS this year – a Government funded programme that represents a unique partnership between sport and higher and further education institutions. The programme facilitates a service provision for talented athletes that are committed to combining their sport and education.
James will receive a comprehensive package of support including strength and conditioning physiotherapy, lifestyle support, screening and participation in a medical scheme as well as access to coaching, sport science, nutrition and psychology services.
“This is a fantastic achievement for James,” said Kevin Fear, headmaster at Nottingham High School. “He has also just returned from another training session with the Great Britain squad coaches as part of the World Class Programme where he excelled once again. We are very proud of him.”

On Friday 27th November the U12 team at the Old Station Road School competed in the IAPS Regional Hockey tournament in Repton. Bromsgrove had five teams to play in their group stage and only the top two schools were guaranteed a place in the prestigious National finals so it was all to play for.

In their first match against Foremarke Hall, Bromsgrove started a little tentatively and nerves were showing. Anastasia Brantingham, Sarah Ellis and Liza Welch showed the way forward and Bromsgrove fought for every ball. Liza Welch scored twice in quick succession giving Bromsgrove a ‘cushion’. Excellent defending by Alice Vaughan and Alycia Nattress kept the opposition from getting on the score sheet and we won 2 – 0.

In the 2nd game the team faced the Elms Colwall with the game ending in a 0 – 0 draw. Bromsgrove knew that as the games were only 15 minutes long, they needed to score early on to secure a win and that is exactly what they did in their next game against Beachborough. By dominating in attack Liza Welch yet again scored from some intricate passing play by herself, Georgina Horsley-Gubbins and Anastasia Brantingham. Beachborough did manage to slip one goal past the Bromsgrove team, but this was the only goal that was scored against us all day. In this game, Liza managed a fantastic hat trick to leave the final score 3 – 1.

The last two games were vital for Bromsgrove to win as they were against the other two schools that were doing just as well as us. It was Bromsgrove’s best game of the day against St Anselms, really pulling together as a team, stringing passes together beautifully and having lots of shots on target. Georgina Horsley-Gubbins, Anastasia Brantingham, and Liza Welch all got a goal and Bromsgrove won 3 – 0.

Miss Jennifer Danks (Head of Girls’ PE and Games) says, “I am absolutely thrilled that Bromsgrove U12s are Regional Champs. It proves that all of their hard work and determination in previous matches had been worth it. Player of the tournament for me was Liza Welch. However, it wasn’t easy – it all came down to the final game as who would be crowned Regional Champions. The team started well, confident from our last win against St Anselms and Bromsgrove dominated in attack. When the final whistle went and the girls found out they were Regional Champions, there were delighted smiles and cheers all round. We are all very much looking forward to the National Finals on Thursday 3rd December where we hope we continue with our success”.

Bedford Modern School students competed in the British Indoor Rowing Championships held at the NIA Birmingham on Sunday 22nd November.

In the Junior 18 heavyweight category, BMS Year 13 student Greg Edwards won Silver in a time of six minutes and 17 seconds which was a new Bedford Modern School Boat Club record.

In the Junior 18 Lightweight category, BMS Year 13 student Alex Robertson won Gold for the School. Alistair Brown, BMS Director of Rowing commented, “It was fantastic to have Alex, BMS Captain of Boats, crowned the British Indoor Rowing Champion.”

Bedford Modern School rowers also achieved success at the Star Head rowing event that also took place on Sunday 22nd November. The School won six events, with the Junior 14 boys, Henk Kroon, Connor Hayward, Nick Clark, Josh Webley and cox, Gavin McWilliams winning their first ever race.

The BMS girls (Isabelle Hodgkiss, Charlotte Bell, Bethan Thomas, Milli Ballard and cox David Sillars), won the Women’s Junior 15 Coxed Quad event against very strong competition.

Additionally, BMS Year 12 student Emma Brocklehurst won the Women’s Junior 17 Single Sculls, the Senior 3 Quad (James Cook, Alex Holbrook, Alfie Pang and David Glasspool), won in the second fastest time of the day and strong performances also came from the BMS Junior 15 Quad.

BMS Director of Rowing, Alistair Brown added, “I loved this weekend’s achievements which showed real strength in depth from both boys and girls at Bedford Modern School.”

Photos: Greg Edwards (left) and Alex Robertson (right) with their medals at the British Indoor Rowing Championships

Newly crowned world heavyweight boxing champion, David Haye may have made a decent fist of his assault on the world title by beating Russian giant, Nikolai Valuev, but nearer to home several pupils at one of the region’s leading independent schools have also had a hand in a major sporting triumph that sees a national title coming to the North West for the first time.

Thankfully there wasn’t a broken hand in sight as pupils from Rossall School, Fleetwood rose to the top of the pile in the National Fives Championships, taking the Open Competition title and also winning the U-15 trophy, with impressive victories over some of the most competitive schools in the one of the country’s oldest sports.

Over 100 schools entered this year’s event and in the Open competition, the Rossall pairing of Christopher Metcalfe, 17, and Luke Williams, 14, went through all stages unbeaten, winning their group and dropping only five points before a quarter final victory against Oundle School 1, followed by a comfortable win against St Olave’s 3 of London in the semis. In the final, Metcalfe and Williams met last year’s champions, St Olave’s 1, running out 15-7 winners, following some excellent points-winning shots from both boys. Their victory sees the trophy coming to Rossall for the first time in the school’s history.

/…
In the U-15 national competition, Luke Williams featured again, this time paired with partner, Jack Morrison, 15. Their final opponents were St Olave’s U-15 first team who made a tight match of it before some neat, cross-court shots from Williams enabled Rossall to claim a 15-11 victory and a second piece of silverware.

In a busy competition for Williams, he also reached the final of the national U-15 singles, losing narrowly to first seed, Weston, of Wolverhampton Grammar School, 15-13. Metcalfe also came close in the Open singles, falling 15-12 at the semi final stage to eventual winner, Hewlett of St Olave’s.

In the U-13 age category, Rossall’s Tom Morrison and Harry Andrews, both 12, reached the final of the plate competition, showing a promising future for the ancient sport of Fives on the Fylde Coast.

School Fives coach; Tom Root believes that Rossall’s emergence as a national force is down to the enhanced facilities at the School, where eight fully covered courts have been refurbished, giving the school the largest facility of its kind in Britain.

Says Root: “Fives is a fantastic sport, which for the uninitiated is similar to squash, with shots being played with the hand rather than with racquets. Along with its close companion, Handball, it’s becoming increasingly popular amongst school children in both independent and state schools, so much so that we plan to run coaching courses here at school.”

Rossall Fives, which is an amalgam of Eton and Winchester Fives, has been played at the school since Victorian times and is a great spectator sport as well as fiercely competitive and demanding. Now, with more doubles and singles players donning the special padded gloves and taking to the school’s refurbished courts it is conceivable that the Rossall will be a regular challenger for the national title.
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Added Root: “To win in one national age group is good, but to win in two and have finalists in the singles and junior pairs this year is testament to the potential here at Rossall for years to come. Our next goal will be the world championships, which will be an even bigger test for our boys, but one they’ll relish, as nothing seems to faze them, which is why we’ve won our first titles so convincingly. Our progression is great for the school and I hope it will help to inspire more children from across Wyre and Fylde to consider playing Fives.”

Photo: Rossall School teacher and Fives coach Tom Root, proudly displays the national trophies watched by the school’s ‘fantastic fives’ champions, left to right: Luke Williams, Christopher Metcalfe and Jack Morrison.

Bromsgrove Preparatory School, along with the Senior School Inter Girls team participated in the Cross Country Midland Qualifiers in Warrington, Cheshire on Saturday 14th November.

The Junior Boys, Junior Girls (Prep School) and Inter Girls (Senior School) teams all qualified for the National Finals in Cornwall on Saturday 5th December. The school has never had three teams qualify for the National Finals before.

Not only have we three teams in the final but we also have a family of three pupils participating: Thomas Trow (11 years), Lydia Trow (15 years) and Hannah Trow (12 years) and siblings Emma (11 years) and Harry Lloyd Jones (10 years).

Out of the 810 schools who entered in September, only 24 will contest the National Final.

The Junior Boys team literally demolished the rest of the field and convincingly won their age group by over forty points. All six boys ran superbly well. James Taylor 2nd, Harry Lloyd Jones running the race of his life 3rd, Jamie Ross 7th, Charlie Kendrick 15th, Thomas Trow 17th and Daniel Holmes 17th, his best race for three years. The boys were magnificent and should be aiming for a top ten eight at the National Finals – twelfth is our best ever finish.

The Junior Girls came third overall as a team and maintained the strong tradition that our girls have had over the last five years by yet again qualifying for the National Final. All the girls ran very well and finished as follows, Emma Lloyd Jones 7th, Sarah Elllis 10th, Frederica Robbins 18th, Eleanor ball 20th, Ella Cardinali 32nd and Sophie Swatkins 39th.

The Inter Girls team were our third team to run and they finished in second place overall, equal on points with winners Malvern College, but their last scoring runner was just ahead of ours. Rebecca Straw lead from the start and won, closely followed home by team mate Lydia Trow 2nd, Hannah Trow 10th, Alice Smith 22nd and Pascale Massey 29th.

Gareth Jones, Head of Boys’ PE & Games said “This is a magnificent achievement for the boys and girls of Bromsgrove School. Not only is it the first time the School has had three teams qualify for the Nationals, but it has also seen brothers and sisters compete together. The Trow family has a member in each of the three teams (this has probably never happened before) and the Lloyd Jones family have a boy and a girl in the Prep School teams. We all look forward to see what they can do in the Finals in December.”

Photo: L-R -Jamie Ross, Daniel Holmes, Charlie Kendrick, Harry Lloyd Jones, Thomas Trow, James Taylor.

Great Britain and Cannock Hockey star, Richard Lane, came to Bilton Grange to demonstrate the type of hockey skills that make him a favourite to be picked for the England 2012 Hockey team.

Although the Bilton Grange hockey season starts in January, the girls and boys from the school were given the opportunity for a short pre-season warm up with Richard, who showed them some tricks and skills to start practising in advance of their matches beginning in the new year.

Mark Tovey, Director of Sport at Bilton Grange Preparatory School commented;

“We had a really successful hockey season last year at Bilton Grange, and its great to be able to start working towards next season with a visit from Richard, who really inspired the children by showing them some brilliant hockey tricks. He also talked about his preparations for 2012, giving them an insight into what its like to be a professional hockey player.”

Windlesham House School runners have been celebrating after an excellent haul of medals at the Worthing & District Cross-Country Championships.

38 pupils from the school in Washington took part in the event on Saturday 21st November at The Gallops in Findon Valley.

10 year old John Vignaux took gold in the U11 boys section while 11 year old Florence Margaroli, from Worthing, also celebrated gold in the U12 girls. Her team-mate, India Cumming, took bronze in the U12 girls while Windlesham had five girls finishing in the top 10 for that age group.

Overall, Windlesham won the U12 girls, were runners-up in the U12 boys and came third overall in the U10 boys’ age group.

Archie Haines-Moss and Arabella Beattie both performed exceptionally well running in the year group above with Archie finishing in 11th place in the U9 boys group and Arabella finishing an extremely respectable 8th in the U10 girls section.

Director of PE at Windlesham House School, Mark Duncan, said: “A special mention must be reserved for our U12 girls’ squad. Florence Margaroli took gold, India Cumming came in third, Eloise Kiely was fourth, Abi Gilchrist was fifth and Emerald Maloney was tenth.”

“Equally important, however, was the guts and determination displayed by Violetta Ewing and Claudia Kelley to run through the pain barrier and secure a memorable team triumph.”

Malvern St James Sports Department is celebrating after 24 girls were successful in being selected for the Worcestershire County Lacrosse Squads. The Malvern St James girls dominated the trials for the County teams with 12 girls selected for the U15 team and 12 girls for the U19 County team. 10 girls have also been successful in gaining places on the Midlands Lacrosse teams.

Sports Prefect, Laurel Buchanan said, ‘This is a great achievement for the School and it is fabulous to see so many of us getting a place. The team work was an essential part in getting us all through’. The School is very keen to promote the Sport and is host to the 3-Counties-Lacrosse Club which is the first independent Lacrosse Club open to boys and girls across the three counties with senior international lacrosse coaches. For further information, please contact: info@3-counties-lacrosse.co.uk

Karen Atkinson, the current England netball co-captain, came to Caterham School on Thursday 19 November to run coaching sessions for the U14, U15 and Senior netball players.

Karen has over 100 England caps and has played in three Commonwealth Games and three World Championships. Earlier this month was inducted into the England Netball Hall of Fame. She is currently a player/coach of the Mavericks Super League team who were runners-up in the league last year and, with several international stars, are hoping to go one better this year.

Headmaster Julian Thomas said: ‘’ Karen is an excellent role model for any student interested in sport. Not only is she a talented player, she also has an excellent work ethic, which means that she remains at the very top of the game. The discipline of training hard is something that we aim to instil into all our pupils. The girls really enjoyed the sessions and benefited from Karen’s considerable knowledge and experience. Karen will return to Caterham School in January to run a netball coaching Inset for teachers.’’

Three talented boys from Prior Park Prep School in Cricklade have fought off fierce competition to be chosen to represent the South West in the Independent Prep Schools Barbarians Rugby championships.

Joe Beckett, Alex Hall and Kieran Kelly were selected from 40 boys from schools across the region. Prior Park Prep was one of only two schools represented to have three players chosen for the team. They will now meet a team from the South East in December at Millfield School in the first stage of the Barbarians competition.

Following the selection day, Kieran Kelly was named by selectors as ‘the player who stood out the most’ and was awarded with the match ball.

The three boys are all part of the Prior Park Prep School 1st XV who remain unbeaten this season. More details are available at www.priorparkschools.co.uk

Bedford Modern School 1st XI Football Team are through to the last 16 of the National Independent Schools Football Association Boodles Cup, after their thrilling 3-2 victory over the much fancied Ardingly College, Sussex in the last round.

As rugby is played at the School in the Autumn Term, Bedford Modern School is the only school left in the competition playing football during the School’s rugby term and therefore the achievement of reaching the last 16 is even greater. Bedford Modern School now face Bradfield College, who defeated them in the final of the ISFA national 6-a-side competition earlier this season, and the match will take place at 2.00pm on Thursday 12th November at Bedford University.

This year’s Final of the ISFA Boodles Cup will be held at the Stadium MK, the home of the MK Dons and Bedford Modern School are certainly looking forward to seeing how near they can get to this prize in March next year. However, Bradfield College will be a very stern test and they have an impressive nine wins, two losses and a draw this season already, not to mention schools such as Millfield, Charterhouse, Hampton, Repton and Brentwood – real footballing hotbeds who are still left in the competition.

Peter Bignell, Head of Physical Education at Bedford Modern School said, “At present I am extremely happy with all the senior players who are training and playing. Their commitment and determination cannot be faulted. I am sure whatever the outcome of the match on Thursday against Bradfield College that our run in the ISFA Boodles Cup this year will be a good springboard to another successful season come January 2010.”

Five elite gymnasts from Surbiton High School, were selected to represent Great Britain at the Acrobatic European Championships held in Portugal.
The venue at Vila de Condo was of Olympic proportions and 25 different countries competed for the title of European Champion.
Great Britain sent two competitors for each category, knowing that only one competitor from each country could proceed to the final, regardless of the score. Although this was an extremely disappointing for some gymnasts, it did mean that other countries new to the sport had a chance of competing in a final.
The 11 – 16 competition was dominated by Russia and Great Britain, with Russia winning 3 gold medals and Great Britain winning 2 gold medals. Abigail Ralph and Amy Mackenzie competed as the 11-16 womens’ pair and despite finishing in joint second position with Russia, they were narrowly beaten by the other the other GB pair, and so did not compete in the final.
Similarly, Anne-Marie Seabourne in Year 7 fell foul of the new ruling and she too, although finishing third in the rounds, were beaten by Great Britain team mates. The girls should be so proud of their performances and the fact that they helped the Great Britain team to come second overall.
Kim Hunter and Katie Axten had a very successful competition, with Kim winning a bronze medal for her tempo routine and a silver medal for her combined routine and Katie winning a bronze medal in all three finals.

On Sunday 15th November Surbiton High School sent two ski teams to Pontypool in Wales to compete at the British Schools’ Ski Championships.

The girls were competing against approximately 400 racers but were well prepared following recent successes in previous races in the series.

All girls skied admirably despite the torrential rain and after the first run both teams were within reach of podium positions. The team consisting of Isabel Linacre, Alice MacAulay, Darcie Mead and Caroline Croft gave a terrific performance and won the Championship. Surbiton’s other team of Emily Pocock, Hannah Bilgore, Evie Kock and Mary Denning made fourth position in the Championship.

As well as team success, there were plenty of individual medals. Congratulations to Alice MacAulay who gained 2nd and Emily Pocock who won 3rd in their separate categories. Isabel Linacre did phenomenally well coming 1st in her age group and 2nd overall. Thanks must go to the girl’s parents and to Mrs Wilkey Head of PE, for all her support in the race and throughout the skiing season. Thanks also to Surbiton’s ski coaches Marc and Paul Telling who have helped Surbiton Ski Team win two successive British Championships!

Bedford Modern School students from Years 10 to 13 took part in the Upper Thames Small Boats Head on Sunday 1st November, in extremely windy and wet conditions. Crews from around the country competed on the famous Henley Royal Regatta course over 3,000 metres.

BMS won the U18 Coxed Fours (Greg Edwards, Alex Robertson, James Powell and Andrew Taylor), U18 Coxless Fours (Jack Pooley, Lewis Cleaver, Matthew Harris and Matthew Bowman), Senior Three Quadruple Sculls (Greg Edwards, Alex Robertson, Edward Munno and James Powell) and Coxed Fours (William Gale, Matthew Bowman, Tom Sweeting and Andrew Taylor) as well as Junior 18 Pairs (Lewis Cleaver and Robert Bell).

Alistair Brown, BMS Director of Rowing said, “It was a successful day for the School rowers although very cold and wet for the BMS parents supporting. Congratulations to all BMS rowers on producing a very strong set of results at the Upper Thames Small Boats Head.”

The next main event that Bedford Modern School rowers will take part in is the Fullers Fours Head of the River taking place on the River Thames in London on 14th November. The new Year 9 rowers are looking forward to their next competitive race at the Star Head in Bedford on 22nd November and spectators are most welcome.

Photo: Senior Coxed Four (l-r Cox: Callum Mackay, Matthew Bowman, Andrew Taylor, William Gale and Tom Sweeting)

Kate Nimmo, Second in Department and Head of Swimming at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, competed in five swimming events at the World Masters Games in Sydney during the week of 10th October 2009. She won five gold medals.

Kate trained with the Cheltenham Swimming Club and the Gloucester Masters, in order to boost her fitness levels for the distance events. During the build up to the Games, she recorded a couple of life-time bests and came very close to breaking the British Record on the 400m Freestyle in the 30-34 year age group. Kate started the series of swimming races on 10th October with the 800m Freestyle followed by the 400m and 200m Freestyle and a 50m Backstroke later in the week. The final test was the 400m Individual Medley which involved swimming 100m on each of the strokes starting with Butterfly.

‘Competing in the Games has been an amazing experience, one that I will certainly look back on fondly and not just because of my success,’ said Kate. ‘Being one of over 28,000 athletes competing in 28 different sports at the largest multi-sports event in the world, bigger even than the Olympics, makes you feel very much part of something very big. Each morning the train going to the Olympic Park is full of competitors from a huge array of sports and countries and everyone is so friendly. The support of the ten other team-mates from my club and from College has been overwhelming.’

Kate is now training for the World Masters Swimming Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden in July 2010.

Photo: Kate Nimmo, Head of Swimming

More than 360 children from 22 schools across the north of England enjoyed the autumn sunshine at the 2009 Malsis Cross Country in October and a ‘home win’ was recorded by Malsis pupil Sam Stewart of Addingham Moorside who came first in the field of 100 runners in the U11 boys category, adding a gold medal to the silver he won at the 2008 event.

Parents and coaches cheered on Under 11 and Under 13 Girls and Boys and teams from Kildwick, Glusburn and Ilkley raced against those who had travelled from as far afield as Windermere and Yarm to this prestigious schools’ event.

Andrew Raikes, Co-ordinator of Sport at Malsis, said “we were delighted to see so many children at our cross country this year. As the first cross country event of the school year the Malsis Run is always much anticipated by all of the schools, both local and those from further afield, independent and maintained.“

Cross Country is just one of the many sports on offer at Malsis – as well as playing rugby, hockey, netball and cricket, the children are able to participate in sports and activities from Abseiling to Yoga and to make use of the wide range of facilities at the school including an indoor swimming pool, astro-turf pitch and 3km mountain bike trail.

If you would like to find out more about the sporting and many other opportunities available to your child at Malsis, please contact Marcus Peel at head@malsis.com or call 01535 633027 for an informal initial discussion.

Results : Malsis Cross Country 2009
Individual Results :Under 11 Boys – Sam Stewart, Malsis
Under 11 Girls – Tassy Heslop, Moorfield
Under 13 Boys – Tom Blanchard, Ermysted’s Grammar School
Under 13 Girls – Abby Parkinson, Bradford Grammar School

Team Results:Under 11 Boys – Giggleswick
Under 11 Girls – Moorfield
Under 13 Boys – Ermysted’s Grammar School
Under 13 Girls – Skipton Girls’ High

Pictured:
Sam Stewart, U11 Boys winner

RGS Worcester Boat Club marked the arrival of new Chief Coach Joe Lyons with a row-past and a boat-naming ceremony on Saturday, in which three boats were given the traditional treatment. Former Alice Ottley pupil and Cambridge cox Carole Burton was top-of-the-bill, spectacularly smashing a bottle of bubbly over the bows of the coxed quad which bears her name.
Earlier in the day, fifteen boats ranging from VIIIs, through coxed and coxless quads to single sculls rowed past the RGS and Worcester RC boat-houses; the flotilla was led off by the Year 9 beginners group in an Octuple, and the final boat was a single scull manned by ex-RGS pupil Tom Clark, who won a Bronze medal racing in the Great Britain U23 VIII at the World Championships in the summer.
Tom’s mother Sarah later named the new state-of-the-art single scull after him, and a coxless pair was then named in recognition of Roger Tarry, who coached for 20 years at RGS with great success; this time it was Roger’s wife Jenny who did the honours. Finally Carole Burton, who made history in 1986 by becoming the first girl to cox a Cambridge Boat Race crew, spoke of how she learned to row at Evesham Rowing Club as there was no rowing at the Alice Ottley School; she was impressed to see some thirty RGS girls were now able to enjoy the sport of rowing and compete at a high level.
Back inside the boat house the Club welcomed new Teacher i/c Rowing Joe Lyons who took over at the beginning of the month from Mike Vetch after a twenty-two year stint in charge. Joe was an international canoeist who represented Great Britain in many different disciplines; he then had huge success as chief coach at Canford School in Dorset: he led them to many national triumphs and several boys and girls achieved international vests under his tutelage. In a brief address, Joe spoke of the huge commitment required by rowers who wanted to succeed, offset by the rewards that come to the dedicated.

The girls’ and boys’ sports teams have started the new academic year with some tremendous results.

The Bilton Grange estate offers outstanding facilities for sport and recreation, whether in the traditional team games or in more individual pursuits. Team games for both boys and girls are an important part of the daily programme, and we have a nation-wide reputation for the excellent standards we achieve in our games and for the spirit in which they are played.

Our aim is to ensure that all our pupils, whatever their interests or ability, are given the opportunity to develop their talents in activities of interest to them, which are outside the formal taught curriculum. To this end the working day is structured to give ample time for relaxation and recreation, at whatever level appropriate to each individual pupil. In this way, we hope that they maintain a healthy balance between work and play, which will stay with them as they go through life.

In addition to the formal classes of Physical Education, which all pupils are given, there is a wide variety of opportunities for them to take part in, with team and individual sports, coached by specialist men and women teachers. The range of sports on offer to the children is extensive and includes rugby, netball, hockey, rounders and cricket as the major games and children also have opportunities to take part in swimming, tennis, athletics, soccer, cross country running, squash, riding, polo, badminton, table tennis and snooker.

Bilton Grange’s facilities include extensive grounds, a large indoor sports centre with two squash courts, a golf course, indoor rifle range as well as a modern, 25 metre, indoor swimming pool. There is an extensive, all weather surface which accommodates hockey and netball in winter and eight tennis courts in summer.

Bedford Modern School Year 8 student, Alex Meade, has reason to look pleased! Having won the Burton-on-Trent Open U13 Table Tennis title last month, Alex has now added the Grantham U13 Open Title which took place recently.

Alex had a relatively easy passage to the Final, where he faced local Grantham boy Matthew Leete, who is ranked 13 in the England U13’s.

However, Alex was not fazed by Matthew’s higher ranking nor the vociferous local support and produced a very convincing three sets to one victory to take the Open Title.

Last month, Alex’s national ranking rose an incredible 21 places from 60 to 39 and with results such as this, Alex will be climbing even higher when the next ranking list appears at the end of the month.

Paul Birch, BMS Table Tennis Coach said, “It is so nice to see the BMS young table tennis players improving so rapidly and getting the success they deserve.”

Photo: Bedford Modern School student Alex Meade is pictured alongside Mike Willars, Chairman of the Grantham Table Tennis Club

Pupils and staff at Duncombe School, Bengeo, gasped as Olympic hopeful Danny Lawrence gave a breathtaking display of gymnastics at the school recently.

His visit was arranged with the organisation Sport for Schools as part of the 2012 Inspirational Campaign. The campaign’s mission is to inspire 2,012 children to enrol in sports clubs throughout the UK in the build up to the London Olympics.

Danny encouraged all the Duncombe children to keep fit and with his coach, Paul, led every year group in a series of gymnastic exercises. He then displayed his own talent by performing cartwheels, somersaults and other gymnastic manoeuvres before answering lots of questions in a special assembly.

Danny explained to the pupils how he began gymnastics at the age of 9 and now trains 30 hours a week on top of his job as a Firefighter. Danny has represented Great Britain at three World Championships and his next big event is the Commonwealth Games in 2010, followed, of course, by the London Olympics in 2012.

Head of Boys’ Sport, John Ferguson, who set up Danny’s visit, said: “The children
were genuinely inspired by Danny and his commitment to his sport. Watching someone so talented at such close quarters was an amazing experience for them.”

A Derbyshire school is on its marks for another successful sporting year after appointing two games teachers with experience of coaching at the highest level.

Mount St Mary’s College has appointed a fencing coach with 15 years experience and a rugby coach who worked with the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

The school’s Head of Boys’ Games, Richard Wareham, has also been chosen as the forward coach for England’s Under 16 rugby side. Richard, who also teaches Physics, is already Head Coach for the North of England Under 16 team.

Adam Blight joins with a wealth of experience coaching the finest fencers in the country. He has coached nine British champions in various age groups including the player ranked number three in the world.

Fencing has been a popular games option for many years at the school and Adam will now coach Mount St Mary’s senior fencers.

Under his tutelage, Adam is confident the school can qualify for the British Youth Championships and the Independent schools Championships in March.

Andrew Axelby has been appointed as a rugby coach and History teacher. Andrew, a level three qualified RFU coach, worked for three years with the RFU and has coached rugby at county and school level in Northumberland.

Paul Scott, director of Sport at Mount St Mary’s, said: “Adam and Andrew have hugely impressive coaching records and their appointment is a real boost for the school.

“Richard’s appointment to the England under 16 set-up is a superb personal achievement for him. We are delighted his coaching ability continues to be recognised at the highest level.

“The three appointments reflect the school’s commitment to ensuring we have a first-class sports department with an unrivalled staff. We are sure their appointments will be of great benefit to our pupils and will allow the school to sustain and improve our impressive sporting record.”

Photo: (L-R) New staff Andrew Axelby and Adam Blight with Head of Boys’ Games Richard Wareham

Paul Hodgson, London Irish and England scrum half, came to Caterham School on Monday 12th October to run a training session with the School’s 1st XV.

After an initial assessment, Paul worked the team through decision making drills and conditioned tackling and defensive alignment exercises.

Director of Sport, Rob Clarke said, ‘It was fantastic to have Paul Hodgson work with the team. He is at the top of his profession and it has given our boys a big lift to see him here. Paul was able to give the boys some very valuable hints and tips that will help them develop into even better players. He ran a great session and his energetic and passionate coaching style really inspired the team. I look forward to welcoming him back to the school to run a sevens session after Christmas, and hopefully he will be here on a more regular basis during the next rugby season.’

After the session Paul said, ‘I was really impressed with the basic skills of the Caterham team. This is a beautiful school and the pitch is just fantastic. The boys worked hard and really improved. I am away with the England camp for the whole of November but I am very keen to come back again to run another session.’

A former Trent College student and International swimmer has returned to the College to share her skills with younger students.
Emma Bird, 18, left Trent College this summer after completing her A Level studies. She is now taking two years out of education to pursue her swimming career, before progressing to University. Emma has an illustrious track record; representing Great Britain at Junior, Youth and Senior Level, and she has been selected to swim for the GB Senior Team at the European Short Course Championships in Turkey this December. Her travels this year will also take her to Dubai to participate in a training camp, and to Holland with England Talent Development to prepare for the Commonwealth Trials in 2010.
Emma took time out from her training this week to return to Trent College in Long Eaton and impart her knowledge to Year 7 students. She encouraged the students with her top tips for perfecting her predominant stroke, the breast stroke, and was very impressed with what she saw!

The RGS The Grange U11 rugby teams got their season off to a flying start by winning The Elms 7-a-side tournament on Saturday.

In the group stages the first string team was victorious against Monmouth School, King’s St Alban’s and Hereford Cathedral School to top their group.

In the final RGS The Grange met Abberley School who had also convincingly won their group. In a very close fought contest RGS The Grange ran out three tries to one.

The U11 second string team, who were also playing in the A Tournament performed courageously too win draws against King’s Hawford, King’s St Alban’s and only loosing one game against the eventual tournament runners up Abberley School.

The Tournament clearly showed the strong position that RGS The Grange rugby currently finds itself.

The Fours and Small Boats Head took place on Sunday 11th October with a record entry of over 420 crews. Bedford Modern School had 32 Year 9 students (Project Lightning) competing alongside dozens of other BMS rowers from Year 10 (Project Legend) and Year 11. There was ample support from parents who were very excited, cheering “Come on Modern!”

BMS Year 10 student, Glenn Tamkin, won the J15 Singles Scull against a lot of strong competition from all around the country. However, the result of the day for Bedford Modern School was the Year 9 Girls’ Coxed Quads Scull who in their first ever race for the School achieved a First Place win. The winning crew were Hannah Milburn, Bea Skingsley, Emma Lord and Jess Goodman.

“Well done to Tristan Mayglothling, Head of Girls’ Rowing at BMS in securing his second win for the School in as many weeks. Congratulations to everyone who competed in the Bedford Small Boats Head and also to all BMS parents whose support was incredible. There were a number of other very significant results throughout the day for BMS as well as the two wins,” said Alistair Brown, BMS Director of Rowing.

Photo: The BMS Winning Crew (left to right) Hannah Milburn, Emma Lord, Bea Skingsley and Jess Goodman

Mrs Edwina Sutton, Director of Sport at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College successfully completed the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii on Saturday 10 October 2009. She finished in an incredible 10 hours 48 minutes and 15 seconds and came 15th in her division.

Edwina qualified for the championships when she was the second woman to finish in her age group at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt, Germany on 5th July 2009. 10,000 people try for a place at the ironman event in Hawaii and only 1,800 competitors are successful in winning a place either at qualifying events or through a lottery system. To qualify as an official finisher of the Triathlon in Hawaii, competitors must complete the four mile swim, the 112 mile bike ride and the 26.2 mile marathon through tough ocean waves and lava-covered terrain within 17 hours. Edwina had a relaxed swim and completed this segment in one hour and six minutes. With a transition time of three minutes and 28 seconds, she finished the bike segment in five hours and 29 minutes. The long run around transition from cycling to running, which took two minutes and 22 seconds, meant that Edwina found her running legs for the marathon and completed the first mile in six minutes 44 seconds. In temperatures of around 50 degrees, the final time for the run was four hours and 6 minutes.

Edwina said, ‘I am overjoyed with my swim and bike combination and the first 20 miles of the marathon, although they were brutal, when I was definitely in the mix with the top five girls in the world. I had trained harder than ever before and I was in incredible form, which I proved in the bike segment, but the heat was intense.

‘The theme of this year’s Ironman World Championships was “new beginnings” and I am leaving this beautiful island with the recognition that I am very much a changed person’.

Photo: Edwina Sutton, Director of Sport

Scotland Rugby Internationalists, Max and Thom Evans spent an afternoon at Strathallan School this week coaching school rugby squads.

The Rugby stars, who also play for the Glasgow Warriors, are the 45th set of brothers to play for Scotland and took to their coaching roles with great ease and confidence. Their rigorous training drills were enthusiastically received by all the pupils and Max and Thom generously allowed extra time for a question and answer session to discuss all aspects of life as a professional rugby player. The afternoon’s session definitely inspired the School’s rising stars.

Currently Strathallan has six 1st XV players selected for Caledonia U17 and U18 Training Squads and Sixth Form pupil, Ryan Hood is a member of the U18 Scotland squad.

Photo: Max and Thom Evans with some U14 players

On Sunday 28th September Neil Fox, led by 3000 cyclists, crossed the start line at Buckingham Palace for the 45 mile Palace to Palace bike ride in aid of the Prince’s Trust.

The ride took the cyclists around some of London’s most opulent sites including the backdrop of Buckingham Palace, the deer of Richmond Park and finally arriving in Windsor where good crowds were there to encourage everyone over the finish line.

Amongst the throng of cyclists who took part was Robin Coe, a Surrey teacher who works at Hurst Lodge School, Ascot.

The day ended with perfect sunshine. Huge congratulations to him and all the other cyclists who have raised money to help change young people’s lives in the UK.

It was an amazing day and let’s hopes that the sunshine comes out again for another fantastic day next year.

The next achievement features Jackie Stuart from Woking who teaches Business Studies at Hurst Lodge School.

Following several aborted attempts she and her team of 5 other swimmers swam the channel from Calais to Dover. It took 15 hours and 45 minutes to successfully complete the challenge setting off at 5.30am from the French beach and eventually arriving in Dover in the dark at 9.30pm.

The final swimmers had to wear glowsticks in their costumes so she could be seen in the dark! The group took lots of seasickness tablets and they worked although cramp was a problem. It was very hard both physically and mentally – although the training was good it is hard to replicate the sea swell and sheer toughness of the task.

Jackie and her colleagues eventually raised circa £15,000 (raising approximately £1000 per hour) for Chase a charity which supports children and teenagers with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions giving help in the community as well as at Christopher’s their children’s hospice, based in Guildford.

Andrew McGarva, newly appointed Director of Music at Kilgraston School in Bridge of Earn, Perth will be performing “The Flower of Scotland” in front of 70,000 football fans as they gather to watch the Scotland national football team play Japan in the Nissan Stadium, Yokohama on Saturday the 10th of October. Andrew has recently arrived at Kilgraston after two years living and working in Japan as the Head of Music at the British School in Tokyo. While Andrew was in the Far East he performed at numerous high-profile events, his most recent being as Musical Director and Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra for a gala concert to celebrate links between Japan and Scotland as part of UK Japan 150 and ‘Homecoming Scotland’.

On returning to Scotland this summer to take up the post of Director of Music at Kilgraston, Andrew was contacted by the Japan Scotland society to ask if he would be interested in returning to Japan and performing Flower of Scotland at the beginning of the match. Andrew said: ‘the game will be broadcast live on television across Japan with a potential audience of millions and it is a real once in a lifetime opportunity. I consider it a great honour to be invited by the Japanese and I will certainly remember the occasion for a long time to come.’ (the 10th of October is actually my wedding anniversary so after a lengthy discussion with my wife I was in the position to accept the invitation – it will certainly be an anniversary I will never forget!). I had a very enjoyable time in Japan and I regard it as my second home so to be able to return so soon after leaving is very special for me.

Scotland last played Japan in 2006 when they won the Kirin Cup under Walter Smith and this time aim to repeat their cup success with George Burley at the helm.

Bedford Modern School are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Tristan Mayglothling as Head of Girls’ Rowing at the School. Tristan was previously the Community Rowing Coach at the Star Club in Bedford for three years.

“I heard about the position from Alistair Brown, Bedford Modern School’s Director of Rowing, who spoke to me about how BMS Rowing was evolving and the fact that the School were looking to appoint a Head of Girls’ Rowing.

“I was interested in the position as I believe that by employing a full time coach for girls’ rowing, the School is showing its commitment to developing equal opportunities amongst both girls’ and boys’ rowing at BMS”, said Tristan. “I very much believe that there is an exciting time ahead for everyone involved with the BMS Boathouse”, added Tristan.

Photo: BMS Director of Rowing Alistair Brown (left) welcomes Tristan Mayglothling to Bedford Modern School

Bedford Modern School Year 12 student Adam Ingledew was selected for the second year running to compete in swimming events at the UK School Games, having won two Bronze Medals last year. This year, the Games were held in Wales between 3rd and 6th September. The swimming events were held at the new 50m pool complex in Swansea.

The UK School Games are an opportunity for school-age athletes to be part of a multi-sport event and to have an insight into competing at the highest level against some of the best athletes from around the U.K.

Adam was delighted to be awarded two Silver Medals at this year’s Games, having come second in the 100 Metre Freestyle and also obtaining a Silver in the 4 x 100 Medley Relay whilst swimming for the England East Team.

“I was very happy with my performance at this year’s Games, especially after the summer break. This is a great start to my season and I am looking forward to it immensely,” said Adam.

“It is great to see Adam competing and winning medals and I am sure he can push on to even better things this year,” said Rob Hardwick, Director of BMS Sports Academy.

“Adam thoroughly deserves his recent success. He is incredibly hard working and demonstrates a level of professionalism rarely seen in such a young man,” said Patrick Jerram, Director of BMS Sport.

Photo: Adam Ingledew with his two Silver Medals

Edwina Sutton, Director of Sport at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College, is soon to be competing in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Kate Nimmo, Second in Department and Head of Swimming, has flown to Australia to compete in the swimming events at the World Masters Games in Sydney.

Edwina qualified for the championships when she was the second woman to finish in her age group at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt, Germany on 5th July 2009. The triathlon in Hawaii will include a four mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile marathon run through tough ocean waves and lava-covered terrain. 10,000 people try for a place at the ironman event and only 1,800 competitors are successful in winning a place.

Kate will join 28,000 competitors competing in 28 different sports at the largest international multi-sports event, bigger even than the Olympics. Kate will start a series of five swimming races on 10th October with the 800m Freestyle followed by the 400m and 200m Freestyle and a 50m Backstroke later in the week. The final test will be the 400m Individual Medley which involves swimming 100m on each of the strokes starting with Butterfly.

Vicky Tuck, Principal, said, ‘This is a remarkable achievement for Eddie and Kate and I am thrilled for them both. Kate and Eddie have managed to combine successfully their rigorous training for their respective events with their responsibilities at College. They are an inspiration to us all and we wish them good luck.’

Photo(l-r): Kate Nimmo, Head of Swimming and Edwina Sutton, Director of Sport

Five leading girls’ schools from across Scotland came to Perthshire on Sunday
27th September to participate in the first ever Scottish Girls’ Schools Association Equestrian event at Kilgraston School, Bridge of Earn. And Kilgraston, the only school in Scotland boasting an on-site equestrian centre, showed their consistency by winning the overall team point’s trophy with Edinburgh’s Mary Erskine School coming a close second.

Three age groups were contested with Kilgraston winning the team competition in the 12 & under category. It was the turn of St Margaret’s Aberdeen to take maximum points in the 14 & under, while The Mary Erskine School took the top spot in the 15 & over section.

In the Individual competition Claudia Dinning for Craigholme took the top spot in the 12 & Under with a stunning double clear in a time of 30.56 seconds with St George’s Purdie Patterson in second. It was a Mary Erskine one, two in the 14 & Under with Rowan Ball leading the way and Ailsa Noble in second. Kilgraston filled the third and forth places with Emily Ryder and Jessica menzies followed by Caitlin Padfield for St Margaret’s and Amy Groden for Craigholme. In the senior section Mary Erskine again filled the top spot this time with Isla Mowat who posted a double clear in 31.89 seconds with Terri Hurrel second and Anna Reilly third both for Kilgraston.

This event is now set to become an annual fixture in the Girls’ School Association calendar giving an excellent opportunity for young riders to gain team experience whilst representing their school.

Photo: The Kilgraston Intermediate Team

Lord Wandsworth College pupil, George Sandford, has received the Robbie Keast Award for his outstanding contribution to the Hampshire Schools U16 Rugby team.
England British Lions winger Ugo Monye , a former pupil of the college, presented the trophy to George in front of an audience including Gary Keast, father of Robbie Keast, and Ian Kerr OBE, chairman of the Hampshire Schools RFU and History teacher at the College.
16 year old George who lives in Hook, was commended by the county coaches for his contribution on and off the pitch. He was described as one of the most encouraging captains the coaches had ever met.
‘I am really proud to have won the award,’ said George.’ To have been chosen from a squad which had 15 players make divisional trial standard and better is a great honour.’

Prior Park Prep School pupils finished last term by triumphing in the sporting arena, with no less than five pupils becoming County players and five pupils receiving ‘Player of the Year’ awards from their sports clubs.

In hockey, having been selected for the Gloucestershire Squad, Yvie Seville and Lurenda Mudd were named ‘Players of the Year’ for the Under 11 and Under 13 teams by Cirencester Hockey Club. Year 7 pupil, Felicity Davies was selected for the Wiltshire County Squad.

Minety Rugby Club selected Tom Biggar as the Under 11 ‘Player of the Year’ while Prior Park Year 4 pupil, Daniel Lakenbrink took the Under 10’s ‘Player’s Player’ award at Wootton Bassett Rugby Club.

Four of the winning Cirencester Rugby Club’s Under 12 squad for this year’s County Cup also came from Prior Park with Kieran Kelly receiving the team’s ‘Player of the Year’ title for his outstanding play.

Out on the cricket field, talented Year 8 pupil Harry Brothwood has been selected for the Under 13 Wiltshire County Cricket Team with fellow pupil Max Dymoke joining him in the County Under 10 squad. Having recently gained experience with his team mates on the Prior Park Barbados sports tour, 12 year old Sam Jones is joining the Wiltshire North West District Squad.

There was also recognition in martial arts for 9 year old Elizabeth Dicken, who achieved her black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

“We are delighted that our pupils, encouraged by school coaching, go on to achieve such success in their local clubs and progress to County level,” said James Barton, Head of Boys’ Games. “Sport is an essential part of the Prior Park school day. We aim to give all children a chance to participate in teams and allow them to discover an activity that they enjoy, whether it is a traditional team sport or an individual pursuit such as martial arts, fencing or golf. Five children this year have also won sports scholarships to their senior schools.”

A Derbyshire athletics club is celebrating after picking up a national excellence award.

2 DASH (Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Harriers), which is based at Mount St Mary’s College, Spinkhill, has achieved Clubmark status – the national standard for high quality sports provision for young people.

Part-funded by Coalfields Regeneration Trust grants, the club was set up in 2007 to cater for Under 13s to 17s from the school and wider community and uses Mount St Mary’s class 1 certified stadium and equipment.

It now boasts more than 100 members made up of students and other youngsters from the South Yorkshire and Derbyshire areas who meet twice a week to take part in a range of track and field events.

Keith Newton, a level 4 coach at Mount St Mary’s who runs 2 DASH, said: “This award is recognition for the tremendous amount of hard work that has gone into setting up 2 DASH and making it such a huge success in only a short period of time. It is one of the fastest moves towards Clubmark status by an athletics club in this country.

“The club was established to cater for our school pupils but also to serve the local community at a grass roots level. In just two years we have gone from a single coach and 18 members to over 150 people training with us under the guidance of 14 coaches.”

2 DASH was promoted to the North East Division of the National Youth Athletics League in its first season of competition and is now holding its own against the likes of the City of York and Lord Sebastian Coe’s old club the Hallamshire Harriers.

It also has satellite clubs at four local schools – Westfield, Eckington, Springwell and Netherthorpe, which run 12-week training programmes and competitions for students and feed into 2 DASH.

Keith added: “The satellite clubs are a way of bringing athletics to the community. They are all inclusive and we welcome members of all abilities from these clubs to our weekly sessions at Mount Stadium. They are hugely popular and a great way for us to develop positive links with the local community and ensure that physical activity is accessible to all.”

Photo caption: (L-R) 2 DASH member Niall Hunt, coach Keith Newton and one of the club’s newest recruits Gemma Smalley.

Eight year old Emilia Thompson stormed the field in charity race to secure a top ten finish and help raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

Emilia, a pupil at Barlborough Hall School, Derbyshire, finished in the top ten girls in the Bupa 1.5km Great Yorkshire Mini Run at Don Valley Stadium.

She was cheered on by sister and fellow pupil Talitha Thompson, plus Natalie Sandi and Alistair McInulty, students at Barlborough Hall, Mount St Mary’s College’s preparatory school. The trio had earlier completed the Bupa 3k Junior Great Yorkshire Run at the stadium.

Leading by example was Mount St Mary’s head teacher Laurence McKell, who ran the Bupa Great Yorkshire Run with deputy head Frank Thompson, Tara Thompson, staff Maxine Smith and Dean Smith, plus students David Broadley, Chris Unwin, Ian Taylor and last year’s head boy Adam Gaskell.

The money raised will go towards Moving Mountains – the umbrella group that covers the college’s chosen charities. These include the Children’s Holiday Trust, Meningitis Trust, Safe @ Last and Jesuit Missions.

Laurence McKell, Mount St Mary’s head teacher said: “It was a fantastic day and wonderful to see the enthusiasm of all our students and staff who signed up for the different races. We are delighted to have raised such a good total for charity between us.

“Emilia produced a brilliant performance to come in the top ten girls in the Mini Run and it was a really proud moment when she crossed the finish line.”

Photo caption: Emilia Thompson (front row, second from the left) with friends and fellow runners from Mount St Mary’s and Barlborough.

Bromsgrove School is delighted to welcome Richard Cox as its new Director of Cricket. Richard who is an ECB Level IV Coach and a Member of the Elite Coaches Panel for the International Cricket Council Europe has most recently worked at Warwickshire County Cricket Club as Director of Cricket for Warwickshire Cricket Board as well as being the club’s Academy Director. Richard’s extensive playing and coaching experience includes work as the ECB’s Regional Programme Manager (Midlands) for U15, U16 and U17 age groups.

Richard’s role at Bromsgrove will be to further develop Bromsgrove School’s links with all Cricket organisations and to develop cricket at all levels within the School. In particular the School is seeking to expand its cricketing reach in all areas of the game and to develop its facilities to the highest of standards over the next few years. Over recent years the school has enhanced its cricketing reputation tremendously and the School sees Richard’s appointment as an opportunity to take the sport even further.

Richard Cox said, “I am delighted to be joining Bromsgrove at such key time in the development of the School’s cricket and its facilities. Having spent 20 years at Edgbaston I hope to bring that experience to benefit the School and look forward to the challenge of working with some talented players and building upon the excellent cricketing record that the school has developed over recent years. ”

Paul Mullan (Second Deputy, Co-Curricula) said “Cricket at Bromsgrove is thriving and the appointment of Richard as Head of Cricket will enhance the excellent developments already made by Chris Munn, Master i/c Cricket. Chris and Richard will work closely together to continue to build the School’s internal cricketing activities and programmes”

Earlier this month, having qualified at the prestigious Cardigan County Show, Sophie Stratton, Year 9, competed in the National Championships held at the BSJA Scope Festival of Show Jumping at Staffordshire County Showground. This was the fifth time that she had qualified for the finals.

Sophie performed incredibly well under pressure and finished 3rd out of a total of 111 in the Under 16 class. Well done Sophie!

Current Pupil Ben Cox (17) makes his senior debut for Worcestershire County Cricket Club on Wednesday 16th September. He kept wicket behind Somerset & International players such as Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer.

Ben has been playing for Worcestershire Under 17s this summer and has played just four second XI games.

This is a great honour for Ben and the School and we believe unique in our history.

Paul Mullan, 2nd Deputy Head (Co-Curricula) at Bromsgrove School says “Although Ben is also a member of the 1st XV the School believes in allowing its pupils to fulfil their dream and fully supported Ben in the decision to release him from School in order to play for Worcestershire. Ben has been with us from the Prep School and works very hard at his game; it has been a tricky decision for him to choose between Rugby and Cricket as he is such an excellent all-rounder, but ultimately has made the right decision as he makes his debut for Worcestershire today”.

Stonar Sixth Former, Ellena Farrow, 16, of Chippenham looks set to be one of the UK’s rising golfing stars.

On 12th July she won the best nett trophy at the South West Regional Girls’ Championships held at Bude and North Cornwall golf club.

On 27th August Ellena won the County Girls Championships held at Marlborough; this was a remarkable win as it was held on the day of the GCSE results, so she was unable to collect her results. She had to play the competition knowing that her parents had collected her results which were waiting for her in the clubhouse at the end of the tournament.

In addition to this Ellena has proven to be a fine ambassador for golf in Wiltshire; on 28th July at the English Girls’ Championships, she was interviewed live on air by BBC Radio Wiltshire. Ellena used the opportunity to promote the virtues of girls’ golf throughout the county. The interview caught the attention of the English Womens’ Golf Association, who called the tournament secretary and praised Ellena for the quality of the interview.

Rising rugby star Brandon Hannam has been selected to represent his country at an international festival in Belgium.

Brandon, a year 13 boarding student at Derbyshire’s Mount St Mary’s College, has been picked for the Scottish Exiles U20 squad.

Scottish Exiles are players with Scottish blood, mostly drawn from English schools. Eighteen-year-old Brandon caught the eye of the selectors at a training session held at Mount St Mary’s over the summer.

It was led by Hugh Campbell, a former Scottish coach who now is a specialist at the National Academy, and former Scotland hooker Stevie Scott, who is now the national line-out coach for the current Scotland team.

The Scottish Exiles will fly out to Belgium for the four team festival on Monday, August 17 and will face host nation Belgium U20s in their first fixture. France U19s and Germany U20s make up the squads taking part.

Brandon, originally from Roundhay, Leeds, said: “I was really pleased to be selected. The Exiles are very highly thought of by the main Scotland set up so it is fantastic to have made the squad. My Scottish blood comes from my Grandma on my Dad’s side of the family

“The trial training session was quite tough but it helped that it took place at my home ground and I also have some previous experience having captained one of the Exiles games last year. I normally play in the back row but have been picked as a prop for the tournament.”

While in Belgium, Brandon will also face an anxious wait to find out his A Level results, which are due out on Thursday, August 20.

Brandon, added: “I have been boarding at Mount St Mary’s for the last two years while I have completed A Levels in Physics, Maths and Accounting and I’m hoping to go onto study Aviation at the University of Leeds. There will be a few nerves the night before and I will no doubt be logging onto the results website from our Belgium base as soon as I can!”

Paul Scott, director of sport at Mount St Mary’s, Spinkhill, said: “Brandon has done fantastically well to be picked for the squad and we wish him the best of luck for Belgium.

“He is a really promising young player who is still only under 19, yet holding his own amongst those at under 20 level. He has a great future ahead and everyone at Mount St Mary’s is really proud of his achievement.”

Photo:(L-R) Hugh Campbell, Brandon Hannam, Stevie Scott and Mount St Mary’s head teacher Laurence McKell.

The teams and draw for this year’s National Schools Rugby Festival were announced today by the tournament committee.

Principal of the College Sian Grant said “Our main aim with the Festival is not only to celebrate school boy rugby, but also to provide the boys with the opportunity of playing in a highly competitive and professional environment. This is made possible by the expertise and high calibre of referees supplied by the London Division of Rugby Referees.

The Festival reflects the hard work and commitment of the players and their coaches and I am pleased that these teams are able to join us to celebrate the very high quality of play, self-discipline and sportsmanship which will be displayed.”

This is the 23rd National Schools Rugby Festival and the College is looking forward yet again to welcoming old and new friends to this action packed weekend. The Festival continues to grow and develop and this year there is even more to entertain our younger spectators including an Army display, Royal Navy Mobile Recruiting Vehicle (MRV), the Royal Marines Visibility Team (RMVT), and a selection of Audi cars.

Last year’s very popular marquee bar will once more provide pitch side refreshments. Spectators will also be able to shop for rugby merchandise by visiting the commercial stands of Samurai Sportswear, O’Neills and Coes. Matches commence at 9am Saturday morning and everyone is welcome to attend this premier festival.

TEAMS ATTENDING AND DRAW
Group 1
St Joseph’s, John Fisher, Brighton College, Merchiston Castle

Group 2
Millfield, Bedford, Dulwich, Campion

Group 3
Filton, RGS H Wycombe, Bromsgrove, Bromsgrove, Robert Clack

Group 4
St Peters Glouc, QEGS, Tonbridge, Whitchurch

ST JOSEPH’S RUGBY FESTIVAL – SATURDAY 17th October 2009

09.00 St Joseph’s v. Brighton College, John Fisher v. Merchiston Castle
09.40 Bedford v. Campion, Millfield v. Dulwich
10.20 RGS High Wycombe v. Robert Clack, Filton v. Bromsgrove
11.00 QEGS v. Whitchurch, St Peters Glouc v. Tonbridge
11.40 St Joseph’s v. Merchiston Castle, John Fisher v. Brighton College
12.20 Millfield v. Campion, Bedford v. Dulwich
13.00 Filton v. Robert Clack, RGS High Wycombe v. Bromsgrove
13.40 St Peters Glouc v. Whitchurch, QEGS v. Tonbridge

14.20 St Joseph’s v. John Fisher, Brighton College v. Merchiston Castle
15.00 Millfield v. Bedford, Dulwich v. Campion
15.40 Filton v. RGS High Wycombe, Bromsgrove v. Robert Clack
16.20 St Peters Glouc v. QEGS, Tonbridge v. Whitchurch

Photo: St Joseph’s Rugby Squad 2008

For further information please contact Bev Hudson on 07747 698254 or email at bevhudson1@btopenworld.com.

After a full winter of selection trials at the indoor cricket school, Anna Monk (Upper 4) and Maya Thrasher (Lower 5) were selected to play for the Northamptonshire U-15 cricket team.

They made their debuts on Sunday for the Northamptonshire U-15 cricket team. They both played their part in a fine victory against Warwickshire in very cold and windy conditions.

Our medals included golds for Annie Reid in the Year 7 800m and javelin (well done Annie for the new school records in both events), Beth Taylor in the Year 9 800m, Aishling Hayward in the Year 9 1500 m and Freya Reith who set a new district record in the javelin.

Silver medals went to Sophie Gill in the Year 7 hurdles, Issie Courtney in the Year 8 800m, Hannah Routledge in the Year 9 long jump, Rose Smith in the Year 10 High Jump and Lucy Lancaster who set a new school record in the Year 10 1500m.

Bronze medals went to CP Herron in the Year 7 discus who set a new school record, Georgina Kilby in the Year 8 hurdles, Fleur Lancaster in both the Year 8 200m and high jump, Sophie Wood Year 9 hurdles and high jump, and Danielle Reid in the Year 10 800m.

“All the girls were absolutely fantastic and 15 of them set new personal bests. I was extremely proud of how they all organised themselves and competed so well and I’m now looking forward to seeing others breaking their personal bests on sports day” said Mrs Keenleyside.

Sixty-six children attended from four GSA (Girls’ School Association) Schools to take part in the Junior GSA Olympics. The girls competed in a variety of sports including hurdles, sprint and javelin. Medals were awarded to groups for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall and certificates given to the winners of each event. Event organiser, Miss Lotti Kopsch said, ‘It has been a fantastic day. It is so important that sport is accessible to girls at all ages. Today has been a wonderful opportunity for schools to join together and promote sport at the primary age’.

STONYHURST pupils displayed remarkable speed and skill when they won gold and silver medals at a fencing tournament.

Twin brothers Simon and Magnus Whittle (14) and Yoann Belon (15) took on more than 150 competitors to defend Stonyhurst’s honour at the Bromsgrove School Fencing Challenge earlier this month.

The Stonyhurst fencers fought exceptionally well, with Simon and Magnus taking both gold and silver medals in the under 14s Foil final.

This was repeated in the under 14s Epee, where the boys fought the other fencers in a ‘Poule Unique’, again winning gold and silver medals.

The final results were:
Under 14 Foil: gold medal, Simon Whittle, silver medal, Magnus Whittle.
Under 14 Epee: gold medal, Magnus Whittle, silver medal, Simon Whittle.

Under 16 Foil: 10th place Yoann Belon.
Senior Epee: 13th place Yoann Belon.

The competition was strong as some of the other competitors are Great Britain fencing cadets.

Other schools also in the tournament included Bromsgrove, Warwick, Abingdon and the Royal Grammar School.

The Whittle brothers are no strangers to fencing success. Last year Simon won gold in the North West 2008 Regional Epee Championships at Arnold School, Blackpool, and a silver medal in the Bath Leon Paul Under 13 Boys Epee, held at Millfield School, Somerset. Magnus also won a bronze medal for third place in the Under 14 Sabre, at the Arnold school competition.

Simon and Magnus also took part in the Manchester Cadet Tournament at Bolton Arena last September where they competed against fencers from around the world, some more than three years older.

“We are very proud of the boys’ success. Bringing home gold and silver medals is a huge achievement in the face of such tough opposition. All three boys should be commended for their endeavours,” said Mr. Andrew Johnson, Headmaster at Stonyhurst College.

Once again the Boys beat their parents in the annual cricket matches. The Colts took on a confident Dads X1 captained by Mr Williams, the Colts Captain’s father. Runs soon began to flow as the boys batted and the fathers struggled to roll back the years! When the fathers batted they found it difficult to fend off the accurate bowling and fielding from the boys. Despite some imaginative scoring the boys ended up winning comfortably.

The mums played two matches against their sons, one at Under 8, the other at Under 9. The boys won both matches but a great deal of fun was had by one and all. The biggest hit of the day was not with a cricket bat but was the match tea! Many thanks to all the mums for being ‘good sports’ but also for providing such a delicious tea.

RGS Worcester & the Alice Ottley School continues to experience excellence in Track & Field as shown by their twenty-one Hereford & Worcester County Athletics titles won in recent weeks. This is the most ever achieved by the School in any one season.

Leading the way has been Adam Damadzic, who retained both his County U17 Boys’ Discus and Shot titles, as well as being part of the successful RGSAO U17 Relay team. He now progresses to the English Schools’ National Championships where he will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal in last year’s Discus.

The Boys’ Captain, Nat McDonald, also produced victories in both the Senior Discus and Shot and will attend the national championships for the fourth time. They will be joined by a third member of RGSAO, Holly Wootten, making her debut in the U15 Girls’ Javelin. The event takes place on 10 & 11 July at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield.

Hereford & Worcester County Athletics Championships
’21‘ RGSAO County Champions

Senior Boys:

110m Hurdles Nick Houlston 16.7 sec
Triple Jump Steve Ndumbe 13.60m
Discus Nat McDonald 35.88m
Shot Nat McDonald 13.40m

Senior Girls:

100m Hurdles Biddy Briggs
400m Biddy Briggs
3000m Susan Ford 14min 45.0 sec
Triple Jump Emily Connell 10.13m (new School record)
Javelin Susan Ford 18.58m

U17 Boys:

Discus Adam Damadzic 46.03m
Shot Adam Damadzic 13.81m
Javelin Toby Wilkinson 48.57m
4 x 100m Relay (Wilkinson, Neale, Mitchell, Damadzic)

U15 Boys:

800m Alex Wyer
High Jump Edward O’Hara 1.64m

U15 Girls:

Pentathlon Fran Short 2243 points
4 x 100m Relay (Fox, Johnston, Short, Blears)

U14 Boys:

80m Hurdles Jonathan Hughes 13.5 sec
Long Jump Scott Howell 4.62m
Shot Josh Feek 9.78m

U14 Girls:

High Jump Megan Kewn 1.44m (new School record)

Pupils, staff and parents at Mount St Mary’s College got into the Wimbledon spirit by taking part in their very own version of the tennis tournament.

They gathered at the Derbyshire school for a Wimbledon Sunday competition, which featured a series of fixtures including mixed American doubles in rounds followed by semi-finals and finals.

Organised by the Mount St Mary’s Parents’ Association, there were prizes for juniors, seniors and the fastest serve.

Junior coaching was also organised by Pete Leadbetter from Beauchief Tennis Club and money raised on the day will be used to support other activities in school.

Diane Burkinshaw, Chair of the Parents’ Association at Mount St Mary’s College, said: “The tournament was great fun and fantastic way to encourage pupils, staff and parents to pick up a racket and get into the summer tennis spirit.

“It was also really competitive and there was lots of friendly rivalry for the fastest serve title! One of the semi-finals even lasted an hour, showing the skill and determination of the pairs.”

An enthralling final saw parent Ian Appleyard and school boarder Virginia Faixat, from Spain, beat Mount St Mary’s head of boarding Mr Wessel Du Randt and Winnie Yeung, from Doncaster.

Virginia also won the fastest serve competition, while fellow boarders Joaquim Llimona took the junior male fastest serve title and Max Hassler won the prize for the fastest senior male serve.

Parent Mrs Tara Thompson, from Spinkhill, won the senior female fastest serve.

Bromsgrove Prep School swimmers Jack Weston, Jeremy Turner, Harry Lloyd-Jones and Henry Walker (all Year 6) are walking on water as they celebrate winning the U11 4 x 25m Medley Relay at the National ESSA Championships held in Sheffield in June. The competition is open to all state and independent Primary and prep schools in England.

This is the first time that any Bromsgrove School team has won a swimming title at this level, which makes it a very unique achievement indeed.

The four boys swam superbly to break the school record by two and a half seconds and become National Champions.

In the freestyle relay Bromsgrove came 4th, and were overall 2nd in both relays combined, one point behind the championship winners Merchant Taylors’, Crosby.

Both Junior Boys’ and Girls’ teams made the final eight with the boys improving considerably upon their qualifying round score to finish fourth behind the winners, Northampton School for Boys. The Junior Girls were seventh in a competition won by Loughborough High School.

Star performers, however, were the RGSAO Intermediate Girls’ team who were convincing winners with a fifteen point margin over Loughborough. Third were Kenilworth School and fourth, local rivals, Bromsrgove School. Top points scorer for the team was Holly Wootten with a 2 minutes 27.2 second 800m and 28.62 metre Javelin. However, the strength of the team was the consistent points scoring of all twelve members of the team.

RGSAO now progress to the National Final at Hendon on Saturday 04 July.

Oliver Robinson to receive Lord’s Taverners Centurion Award

Talented sportsman Oliver Robinson (aged 13) from Clifton on Dunsmore, is to receive a Lords Taverners Centurion Award certificate after scoring a century in a hard fought cricket match against Formarke Hall Prep School, Derbyshire.

The opposition scored 163-7 in 32 overs, with Oliver then opening the batting for Bilton Grange and hitting an outstanding 112 in 20 overs. Bilton Grange won by nine wickets.

The Lord’s Taverners Centurions Award recognises the achievement of boys and girls under the age of 18 scoring their first century in an organised club or school cricket match, and is endorsed by the ten living batsmen to have scored one hundred first-class centuries, including Graham Gooch, Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick.

Mark Tovey, Head of Cricket at Bilton Grange commented;

“Oliver played an aggressive attacking innings from the start, hitting a 6 in his second over. This was an outstanding achievement following on from his 96 out in his previous match. Oliver’s batting average is now 124!”

Two teams from Bilton Grange, have shot to success at the British Schools and Young Shots Championships, which were held at E. J. Churchill Shooting Ground in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire last week. Out of the ten teams entered, Bilton Grange A team came 3rd and the Bilton Grange B team, joint 5th. Amongst the overall result of all prep schools competing, Bilton Grange came second.

Mr Searle, Master in charge of Clay Pigeon Shooting at Bilton Grange, commented:

“The boys shot consistently well throughout the day and as the competition drew to a close it began to transpire that they had also shot very competitively too. Congratulations to all the boys, particularly at such an early stage in the term’s clay shooting practice.”

Peterborough High School has participated in the Concept 2 National Indoor Rowing Championships since its inception in 2005 and has won several medals. However, with the fourth Championships now complete and even with a huge increase in the number of teams competing, the School is celebrating its best ever results, with three of their teams finishing in Gold Medal position.

Over 4,000 school teams from all over the UK from Jersey to Aberdeen competed this year. Teams can now be entered in ‘Fours’ and ‘Eights’ competitions and each team needs to complete time trials every month between September and March.

The gold medal winning teams are:

Year 5/6 Boys’ Fours – first out of 206 teams
Year 7 Girls’ Fours – first out of 268 teams
Year 11 Girls’ Eights – first out of 25 teams

The glory does not, however, stop at the gold medallists as none of the 12 teams finished lower than fourth place. The Year 11 Four, the Year 7, 8 and 9 Eight Teams all gained silvers and the Year 8 Four and both the girls’ and boys’ Year 6 Eights won bronzes.

Event co-ordinator and Senior Teacher at the School, Mrs. Angie Axe, is thrilled that the results get better each year: “We are a small and successful school, where the pupils all do so much and we are extremely proud of this latest national achievement. It is particularly pleasing that each of the teams who commit to entering, stick with it for the full six months and work incredibly hard to maintain their standards throughout”.

The medals and certificates will be presented to the children later in the term.

Fourteen different nationalities represented St. Clare’s on the River Thames on Sunday and secured third place in the 11th annual Dragon Boat race run by the Rotary Club of Abingdon.

The St. Clare’s Team competed against 17 others including teams from RAF Brize Norton and the Thames Valley Police.

The team competed in three qualifying races in which the fastest time over the 800m stretch determined qualification for the semi finals and finals. St. Clare’s won the semi final race but failed to reproduce the same form in the final.

All team members will receive medals with the group trophy being proudly displayed at college. The team included: Endri Lito (Team Captain), Rauf Fratari, Holly Norrington, Julie Laeremans, Felipe Verillo, Valeriya Nefyodova, Tijana Ostojic, Philipp Gerhard, Patrick Reece, Christopher Caioni, Maximilian Wilson, Ilya Zemskov, Youssef El Azouzi, Alexander Parsczenski, Francesco Garosci, Kirsten Lillie, Kevin Hennessy (Team Manager).

Two tennis events have been won by the impressive Queenswood pupils in recent weeks:
The dynamic duo of Becky Smaller (13) from North London and Lindsay Young (13) from Maidenhead won the 14U Harpenden Girls Schools Championships held on the 9th May at Harpenden Tennis Club. This competition first took place in 1921 and was last won by a Queenswood pair in 2003. Becky and Lindsay stormed through to the semi-finals and then had a tight match against Millfield’s first pair winning 7-5 6-3. They then took on Sevenoaks in the final comfortably winning 6-2 6-2 to take the championship.

A clean sweep for Queenswood in the Herts Schools Doubles Tennis Championships, gave the talented players both the 18U and 14U Girls Doubles titles on 16 May. Our 18U pair of Shona Young (15) from Maidenhead and Anya Lofinmakin-Dutta (14) from Islington, played excellent doubles in the final against St. Albans High School, to take the title. Not to be outdone, our U14 pair of Becky Smaller and Lindsay Young, following their success in the Harpenden Doubles, had a tough final against Loreto College but came through to win. Our U14 second pair of Chloe Lant (12) from Maidenhead and Alice Wills (12) from Enfield won their plate event.

Photograph:(l-r standing):Anja, Shona, Becky, Lindsay and Chloe and Alice being held!

RGS Worcester & The Alice Ottley School made history this month, recording the school’s first ever female Ten Tors Challenge success.

Saturday, May 9 saw an RGSAO team of five boys and one girl enter and complete the gruelling 35 mile endurance course that is the Ten Tors.

Walking independently for two days across the barren landscape of Dartmoor, the weather was kind to them, but their determination to succeed was clear to all involved.

Led by Seb Nevitt, the RGSAO team also included Ross Anthony, Matt Austin, Tom Downes, Tom Fairman and Holly Allen.

Holly Allen is the first ever RGSAO girl to compete in the Ten Tors.

With preparations for the challenge being key, Chief Trainer Jon Shorrocks took the team under his wing, holding several training sessions to prepare the six strong team.

The whole team completed the Ten Tors, finishing at 15.47 on the Sunday (May 10) and each receiving a medal, as well as a Team Certificate.

“I think the team certificate means the most to me and the team – it really was a team effort. At the end of an emotional 35 mile challenge we were all a little tearful.” commented Jon Shorrocks.

“Throughout the challenge and training, the team gelled together well and supported each other – their determination to succeed was fantastic and it’s great that their hard work is being rewarded.”

“I am extremely proud of each and every one of them.”

THREE teenage pupils have teed-off to a first for Stonyhurst College as they will be representing Lancashire at the 2009 English Schools Championships, at Thetford Golf Club, Norfolk, on July 8.

The three pupils: Callum Jones, 18 (team captain) from Birkdale, near Southport; Jack Milton 17, from Cadiz, Spain; and Sebastian Leigh 16, from Germany, played a series of knock-out rounds to qualify for a place in the Lancashire finals at Haydock Park golf club.

After winning their semi-final in the morning rounds, they were in the nail-biting County Cup finals in the afternoon.

All the teams were level after an exciting 18 holes, leaving the Stonyhurst trio with one match lost, one won and one halved.

They then played a sudden-death play off, finishing as runners up which qualified them for the prestigious national finals.

“This is a first for Stonyhurst golf and is a tremendous achievement,” said Tim Strain, Master in Charge of Golf at Stonyhurst. “The boys have put in a great deal of effort on the golf course and their dedication is paying off. We’ll all be cheering them on when they play in the finals.”

Team captain Callum Jones is no stranger to large golf tournaments. Earlier this year, he was part of team of eight-member team of boys from other independent British schools who took part in the Independent Schools’ Swifts American Golf Tour. The tour lasted three weeks and he played matches in North Carolina before travelling north along the eastern seaboard, including a visit to New York.

Picture caption: (Left to right)
Jack Milton, Callum Jones (team captain) and Sebastian Leigh.

The annual Gadlas Inter-Schools Challenge, held at Southview Arena in Cheshire, saw the ‘Howell’s Horrors’ taking first place in the hotly contested 2’3″ class. The team consisting of Georgina Clark (riding Sinva), Abigai