It’s been a busy end to the half term with hockey, netball and football taking centre stage. It has been fantastic to enjoy sports fixtures again with over 55 matches taking place since September, along with Area, County and Regional tournaments in hockey and netball, plus the IAPs hockey tournament and the GDST sports rally at Northampton High School.
Everyone in Lower 2 to Lower 3 have enjoyed representing the school at hockey, playing in tournaments or enjoying matches against Norwich School, Greshams or Town Close. The Under 11A team enjoyed the County tournament and IAPs East region tournament last week showing great progress. They finished 4th in the IAPs Plate competition, narrowly losing out on penalty flicks in the semi- final and 3rd/4th play-off.
The Under 12 and Under 13 teams had some great wins over the last 2 weeks against Langley School and Ipswich High, with 3 U14 teams plus the U15s also enjoying matches.
Congratulations to the 1XI who came 3rd in the U18 GDST finals at Northampton this week. Having come runners up in the pool stages after wins over Shrewsbury and Northampton, we progressed to the cup semi-finals only to be defeated by overall winners Bromley. An excellent achievement to come 3rd out of 20 schools by a very young side. Player of the tournament awarded to captain Abi Lewis.
The week before the U14s played Langley in the Tier 2 county match, winning 3-0 and progressing to the regional finals to be held at Cambridge University sports ground on Thursday 18th November. Goals from Thalia, Claudia and Sophie rounded off a deserved victory.
Both the under 14 and under 16 netball teams have successfully qualified for the County tournaments after half term, with some determined performances in the Area competitions to both finish as runners up. The Under 14 team also travelled to Northampton High School this week for the GDST tournament, finishing as runners up in the Plate tournament.
The U11 football team have played 3 matches in their Autumn league with bumper crowds for our home matches on the big pitch. It’s been great to see girls enjoying representing the school in a new sport and we are looking forward to making our debut at the GDST tournament in November.
We have been delighted with our new partnership with Norwich Swan Swimming Club since September. Mr Davis, our swimming coach, has been a great asset in our Prep swimming lessons and over 60 swimmers are regularly taking part in our three after school squad sessions. Sixth formers have also started sessions during their Games lessons to gain the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification.
It has also been fantastic to see students back on the river at Whitlingham, either rowing under the tutelage of Ms Middleton or kayaking with coaches from Norwich Canoe Club. Upper 3 and Lower 4s have also enjoyed kayak sessions in the pool every Friday after school with the Norwich Canoe club coaches.
Over 60 girls from Upper 1 to Upper 6 have also enjoyed taking part in our tennis programme, led by Mrs Andrews. Senior girls have also assisted when they have qualified as a tennis leader.
We have also been delighted to hear about all the excellent sporting achievements made by our girls outside of school and look forward to the opening of our new Fitness Suite in the coming weeks to continue to motivate and encourage all our pupils to enjoy a lifelong love of sport.