Competitions

We have had a very bust start to 2024 with continued success across a range of sports. A team of Year 6 girls reached the Quarter Finals of our local stage of the Premier League Primary Stars competition, narrowly losing to a strong Oakwood side that will now represent Derby County in the regional stages. A super achievement considering that they were up against a number of academy players.

Our Year 6 mixed team has won the South Derbyshire Active Sports Partnership Indoor Athletics competition and they will now compete in the County Finals in April at Derby Arena which we are all looking forward to - the first time we have managed to reach this stage. (Our Year1/2 team finished 2nd and the 3/4 team finished 3rd in their competitions so the future looks bright!)

We have also had 9 children qualify for the Cross Country District County Finals near Sheffield in March which was also a huge achievement and another first for the school.

Before Easter, we also have teams competing in New Age Kurling as well as hockey, a swimming gala and inter-house sports.

Our team beat off stiff opposition against 10 other teams to win the local South Derbyshire Sports Goalball competition. They won every game and completed their evening's work with a superb victory against Pennine Way. A true team effort, the team proudly displayed their cup in the school assembly to rapturous applause. Well done team!

Our mixed basketball team produced some amazing performances at the SDSSP mini-basketball tournament qualifiers, finishing top of their group. We progressed to the second evening of knockout stages and produced some high-quality performances that were noted by the organisers and basketball coaches. Our last match saw us pitted against a strong Springfields team with a 'winner-takes-all' final. Unfortunately, we finished 2nd overall and missed out on the County Finals but we are all so proud of their performances over the two evenings.

Since September, we have had three matches at Repton Preparatory School and won two of the three fixtures. We have been invited back for a girl only fixture after half-term which should be exciting.

20 of our year 5 and 6 girls competed in an open competition at Pingle school in October and one team was just one penalty away from finishing in tope spot! We are committed to increasing female participation in sports even more this year and have a new girl only football kit being delivered soon from the FA. Our girls have had dedicated football only clubs, breaktime coaching and even their own areas where they can access the goalposts freely to develop their love of the game. It has been wonderful to hear from some of our leaving girls that they have made the first teams of their new schools or been inspired to join a local club!

Our mixed girl/boy team finished top of their group in the regional heats and progressed to the knockout stages where a last minute (Or even second!) goal stopped them from reaching the District Finals later this year.

November - a strong performance against Pennine Way on our own pitch saw our mixed team of girls and boys convincingly beat the opposition. It was lovely to kick off at 3pm and have so many spectators encourage and cheer our team on!

We have plenty more fixtures coming over the year, with the prestigious EFL tournament in December that could possibly see us on the first steps to Wembley in May before the Championship Finals - we can but dream!. We hope to offer KS1 tournaments too in the New Year for the first time.

December - our team bowed out of the EFL cup on a cold and damp December evening. The format was changed this year meaning that any losses in a small group would have huge implications for progress. Chasing a victory in the last group match cost us dearly but the team should be proud of their efforts. We have now been invited to take a team to take part in the female only version of the competition in the New Year (January 2024) which gives the chance to play a final at a Premier League ground. 'Let's go girls!!'

Our children compete against each other in school in lessons and increasingly in Inter-house competitions. They very much enjoy competing against other schools in organised events, including County Finals and national competitions such as the EFL Cup.

In the year 5 and 6 5-aside competitions held before and after Christmas, the red team won for the girls and the blue team for the boys. It was wonderful to see all of the children giving their best for their team, celebrating success and accepting adversity in equal measure. 

This year's competitions will be taking place shortly - with each year group helping to choose their sport.

Over twenty children represented the school at the Sports Hall Athletics Finals at Greenbank Leisure Centre. As well as some outstanding individual performances during the day, our year 1 and 2 team finished in overall 3rd place and our year 5 and 6 team finished in 2nd place, just 10 points behind the winners. What an amazing achievement!

We entered two teams to the prestigious EFL football competition in January. The competition provides a pathway for schools to represent their local football league club at Wembley before the Championship Finals in May and over 50 local teams were competing in our groups. Our Friday team drew two matches and won one of their matches but bowed out at the group stages. Our Thursday team, consisting of mostly year 5 children, finished top of their group, with an amazing 10 -1 victory against Matlock and progressed to the afternoon's knock out stages. Although they lost in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter finals (against the eventual regional finalists) their performance bodes well for the competition next year!

We sent a squad of six for a goalball tournament at Greenbank Leisure Centre. Most of the children were competing against other schools for the first time and showed excellent sporting behaviour and a positive attitude. The sport requires excellent listening and communication skills, with players wearing blindfolds and playing with a ball with a bell inside.

Our team of 8 basketballers won through from their qualifying competition to represent the school in the DSSA County Finals in November. Coming up against some of the largest schools in the district, we defeated the eventual winners on the evening and finished in an amazing 3rd Place. The whole team put in some outstanding performances and with most of our team being a year younger than the opposition this bodes well for 2023!

Our team of year 5 and 6 girls was unbeaten in the qualifying rounds for the DSSA County Final held at Pingle in October. Some solid defensive performances.

Our year 4's had an amazing afternoon at Greenbank Leisure Centre at the Athletics competition organised by South Derbyshire Sports Partnership. They came 4th overall which we were really pleased with considering they were up against some very big schools. The boys won 3 of their 5 races, a fantastic achievement. Well done year 4!

Many of the year 5's were competing in their first school tournament and really enjoyed their experience.