A Sporting Half Term

Our progressive and extensive pre-season sports programme set the tone for the start of the new school year. In August, the base for 60 of our senior rugby players was Swansea University, utilising the excellent facilities offered there, whilst the Senior girls went to the University of Nottingham to prepare for the start of the hockey season. The bedrock of our sports programme is how ‘participation’ and ‘performance’ marry together, and this can be clearly illustrated when looking at our major sports this term. In rugby, the opportunity to play the game as it was devised, without restrictions, has led to an excellent set of fixtures so far. In the U12 (Year 7) age group 66 of the 76 boys have already represented the School in a match, whilst at the other end of the age spectrum the 1st XV playing in the ‘Friday Night Lights’ local derby against Beechen Cliff has been a notable highlight so far.  Of course, the ‘performance’ element is the lifeblood of any ambitious school, and in rugby there are seven U15 boys and four U16 boys involved with Bath Rugby in the Development Player Programme, with another four players further up the ladder within the Player Development Group (PDG) at U16 level.  In addition, Alex Knight and Ben Sim train in the PDG pathway at U17 level, all contributing to a fantastic reflection of the quality of rugby at King Edward's.

In girls’ hockey all our age groups have taken part in the National Cup competition, playing in the County tournaments, with the 1st XI successfully making it into the 4th round of the Plate Competition to be played after half-term. As with rugby, there are a growing number of players progressing beyond school teams. 35 boys and girls have been gained a place in the England Hockey Pathway, with Ben Maclean, Henry Derwent, Max Kirkwood and Alex Tagent all recently selected for the new Team Bath Buccaneers Talent Academy, and Josh Lang continuing his studies towards the Diploma in Sporting Excellence run by England Hockey. In the younger age groups, it has been great to see every girl in Year 7 and 8 selected to represent the School in fixtures since September, a superb accolade!

The National netball competitions get underway after half-term and in preparation our U19, U16 and U14 squads are busy training and playing friendly fixtures. We also have six netballers in the County Player Development Programme, with Bethan Mawer (Year 10), Aoife Hughes, Sam Hughes and Amber Tiley (all Year 12) playing within the Team Bath Futures Pathway.

The new football season has started well with some excellent training sessions as two new teams at senior level begin to find their feet. The development matches against BGS highlighted that there is much potential with some keen, talented and skilful players. We look forward to the second half of term with five matches in as many weeks.