Sports round up - Spring Term

With no ‘Beast from the East’ to contend with this year, the games schedule went through pretty much unscathed. Once again, our major sports delivered a comprehensive programme for pupils to enjoy. In both netball and hockey we ran nineteen teams, competing in around one hundred and thirty fixtures in each sport, which amongst younger year groups included U12 and U13 A-D teams.  Highlights included Year 7 and 8 teams coming second in the KES Invitational Netball Tournament, whilst the U18 netball squad, already County Champions for the fourth year in a row, excelled in the Regional Final of the National Schools Competition.

We were also delighted to welcome Serena Guthrie – undoubtedly one of the best netballers in the world - to school to deliver masterclasses to pupils and staff alike. During her day at KES, Serena also led a whole school assembly (attended by Year 5 & 6 as well) and took part in a Q&A session with Lower School pupils.  Still with netball, congratulations should go to Millie Pearce and Daisy Collett, who are part of the Netball National Performance League based at the University of Bath.

The hockey programme has gone from strength to strength. Each of our National Competition age group teams went on impressive cup runs, with the 1st XI reaching round four and the U16 squad reaching the last 16 in the main competition. The U13 Boys’ and Girls’ teams played through to the regional finals, where they took 3rd and 2nd place respectively. A record number of boys have been nominated for a place at the Avon Academy Centre, with trials beginning in the Summer Term.  A special mention too to Josh Lang and Ned Boursin, who have been attending England Hockey’s Performance Centre, run by the West’s regional hockey association.

The Rugby 7s campaign saw some notable successes leading into the Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournament. The U12s won the prestigious Port Regis tournament, beating both Millfield and Caldicott along the way, whilst the U13s won the Clayesmore 7s event ahead of winning all five of their matches at Rosslyn Park, securing top spot in their group (there is no onward knock out stage for this age group). Further up the School, our U15s won a 10s competition hosted by Millfield.

Still with rugby, we were all delighted to see Max Ojomoh secure a senior academy contract with Bath Rugby.  Not content to stop there, Max went on to win his first England U18 cap, scoring a try against France to top it off!  We look forward to following Max’s progress in the next stage of his rugby career.

In other sporting ventures, 18 KES pupils qualified for the British Schools Biathlon Championship, with congratulations due to Alex Hearn (Year 7) who came third in his age category and our U12 Girls’ team, which came fourth overall. In cross country, Justin Davies, Enya Maylor and Alex Knight all received invitations to compete in the English Schools Cross Country Championship. As a new departure, the School also played two table tennis fixtures against Kingswood, involving boys from Year 7 to 12.  We have also just learnt that rower, Nia Haddon, has been selected to represent Wales & the West of England for her age category and will now compete in a single scull at national junior events.

With around 40 boys representing the School, this has also been another busy senior football season, full of development, enjoyment and good progress. With a core group of committed, talented and skilful players there have been many highlights over the Autumn and Spring terms. In a very competitive fixture list, the 1st XI won four of their matches against Sherborne, Downside, Dauntsey’s and Clifton College, playing some free-flowing and attacking football. The 2nd X1 highlight was undoubtedly the 5-4 penalty shoot-out win against Dauntsey’s – not quite the Champions League final, but the celebrations were certainly memorable!

With an eye to the Summer, our young cricketers have been taking advantage of our superb new indoor nets in the sports hall, with Mr Brown and his team running coaching sessions across various age groups. We are also looking forward to introducing our revised cricket programme, with boys and girls training together in games lessons from Year 7, as well as fielding the School’s inaugural 1st XI Girls’ team.