Private School News

Equestrian Excellence at STRATHALLAN SCHOOL

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.

Bedford Modern School’s Year 9 Rowers win Bedford Regatta

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 CLIMBS MOUNT KILIMANJARO

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

KING’S SCHOOL ELY Cricketer sets record

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.

Record medal haul for KING’S SCHOOL ELY athletes

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.

Local Double Scullers from RGS WORCESTER win at Worcester Regatta

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.

Stonyhurst Hockey Players help to lead Lancashire to victory!

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 has her sights on Commonwealth Games glory

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.

National Lacrosse Excellence for MALVERN ST JAMES girls

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’.

RGS WORCESTER BEATS ETON COLLEGE IN ATHLETICS

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.

Derbyshire pupil’s sword skills secure prestigious shield

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

Triumphant Tennis Team

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 WORCESTER – crews in action at Evesham Regatta

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.

RGS Worcester – 100% success for Springfield Karate Club

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 STUDENT, RAESHAN DOWNER, SELECTED AS MEMBER OF THE ENGLAND NATIONAL HANDBALL YOUTH SQUAD

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

STONYHURST COLLEGE – U14 Rugby Tour to Italy

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

King’s School, Ely, footballer selected for ISFA development camp

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.

Holly McGarvie Attends Caterham School Sports Dinner

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 hosts top Kenyan tennis players

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 CRICKET DUO SCORE UNDEFEATED CENTURIES

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