The Dubai Primary and Secondary School football leagues have been underway since October 2016. SCS entered 7 teams in the various leagues this year comprising of 27 league matches in total. There has been significant improvement across the board from the teams that played last year which is very pleasing. A big congratulations has to go to all the players involved in each squad and they can be very proud of their efforts. YEAR 3 BOYS FOOTBALL Year 3's season started with a 'friendly' against Safa British. After a poor start and being 3-0 down at the break the team showed grit and determination, working hard for each other to pull it back to 3 each. With James Gillit and Quinlan Fieldgate forming a formidable partnership at the back, the team kicked on from there with some dominating displays in the other friendlies and won the first two league matches convincingly. We were playing with great confidence, offering good link up play between Thor Arne Hansske, Woody Holburn-Lewis and James Meldrum; all three of them netting in the wins. SCS would come up against an experienced Foremarke side who were also unbeaten and despite us going 1-0 up through a mazy run and precise finish from Woody; after dominating in spells, we eventually went down undeservedly 2-1. Next up came Kings Al Barsha who started the brighter and used their bigger players to take control of the first half. The boys wouldn't lay down though and came out with a spirited second half display, somehow eventually losing 3-1, ending the season for now until other results would possibly go our way. It was great to have support from parents at all matches and of course the hard work the boys put into training to prepare and improve themselves each time. This team will keep getting better, well done! YEAR 4 BOYS FOOTBALL The Year 4 football team s season also began with two friendly matches against strong opposition in SBS and Nord Anglia. Although both games ended in defeat the signs of improvement were starting to show. In the first league match of the season we played Rashid Boys School. It would have been a comfortable victory had their goal keeper not played an absolute blinder saving everything. The game ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw. The second game was against GEMS Al Khail and gritty performance ended with a rewarding 2-0 win. 4 points from a possible 6 was a huge performance compared to last season.
The third match was against a very good Foremarke team that did very well last season. At half time the score was 1-1 after taking an early lead. Unfortunately we ran out of steam in the second half after working extremely hard pressuring them into mistakes. The final score was 3-1 to Foremarke but it was an amazing result for us. The fourth and final league match was against Kings Al Barsha. It was the boy s best performance of the season and we won comfortably 5-1 finishing second in the league behind Foremarke. This meant we were guaranteed a tough draw at the finals tournament. The boys were on pitch 8 at the finals last year having not won a game all season. This year we were on pitch 3 with the other second place teams. A massive testament to their hard work and commitment to training, well done boys and I look forward to working with you all again next year. Mr Scadden. YEAR 5 BOYS FOOTBALL The year 5's showed fantastic growth as the season progressed. They have worked hard to improve basic concepts such as creating space and pass and move, and have used it to great effect throughout the season. They began the season strong with a 2-0 win over GEMS Wellington Al Khail. Their next fixture versus Foremarke ended with a 4-2 loss, with the boys waking up in the second half, organising their defence and clawing back two goals. Kings Al Barsha displayed their top of the table dominance, and despite a gutsy performance, sank our boys 5-0. Rashid School for boys proved a tricky fixture with the SCS team going down 2-1. On finals day the team fought out 3 tough matches earning one draw and 2 losses. The year 5 boys have turned into a team with great potential for next year, and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow and gain more success next season. YEAR 6 BOYS FOOTBALL The Year 6 Football team have shown rapid improvement this term in ways in which I have not seen previously. Our first training session in the gym hall was difficult to watch with balls flying everywhere, no communication and no control. The team had plenty of work to do. This led to our team starting out really slow with a few narrow losses early in the season. While playing good opposition, we kept up for most of the games, with a few small lapses in concentration costing us our first two games. The boys really began producing solid performances. We drew versus Rashid and with some lucky twists in the draw, we scraped into the Finals day. We had already shown huge improvements through the regular season and we were ready to take it to the next level. With some of our players out singing in the choir, we knew it was going to be a long day with no substitutions in the heat. Our boys turned up to play. We won our first game and lost our second game in the last 30 seconds. We had an epic draw versus JBS which gave us a chance at the title. The last game was so tough but after playing with no reserves for four consecutive games and one of our players getting injured, we couldn t quite get the win we were looking for.
As a coach, I have not met a team that has improved so much in such a short period of time. SCS could not be prouder of this team of young men. A huge thanks to all the parents who kept coming out and watching our matches and giving us so much support (and oranges.) U14 BOYS FOOTBALL The under 14's embarked on their season in the knowledge that they would potentially be playing teams with a number of students in older year groups. With this in mind the team discussed how this season could act as key learning phase for future years and give some younger members of the squad some very important playing experiences. The season itself was full of mixed results but ended on a very positive note with a close and hard fought victory against GEMS Wellington Al Khail 4-3, Max Cashmore scoring with the last kick of the game. There was one other victory 5-4 against GIS and two losses against Cambridge international and JBS. U11 GIRLS FOOTBALL The Girls U11 have had a great session. Even though they weren t top of the League. They have improved so much during the session. They have learnt how to play as a team, and have shown great determination! They have had some difficult games, our first game was a friendly against Safa British School, we lost, but we scored 1, such a great way to boost the girl s confidence. They then had their first home game against Hartland International School. We had great support from parents on this game. Thank you!! Then they played another home game against Jumeriah Baccalaureate School managing to score 1, but then Jumeriah Baccalaureate School came back to score 3. Emirates International School was next this was a tough game losing by 8 goals. But the girls never gave up!! Mrs. Ormond. U14 GIRLS FOOTBALL The U14 girls made huge improvements throughout the season. Playing against girls a year older we began with a battling 1-1 draw. We proceeded to have a few tough matches but tried our very best throughout. In our final three games we remained unbeaten with two excellent draws and a great win at home over Bradenton Prep School. We really developed our systems in our final three games and with an improved defensive display of only conceding one goal in three games our results improved. Special mention to Ciara Deegan who excelled in defense this season, Marte Reikvam who must have sore arms from all the throw-ins and Lily Newell who banged in some important goals for us this season. We looked good and look forward to next season. Mr. Fowley.
Cross country December 2016 This year for the first time SCS has been part of the Dubai Schools cross country league. This event keeps growing every year and there have been over 300 competitors from over 20 different schools. The league involved 3 separate events at Rashid Boys School. The Year 3&4 races were over 1000m and the 5&6 races were 1600m in distance. SCS entered a boys and girls squad for each year group from Year 3 to 6. Special mention has to go to the Year 3&4 girls and boys squads who finished in the highest team positions of 13 th out of 21 schools. On an individual basis Tyler Aspden finished first out of the Year 3&4 boys in 34 th which is outstanding. Charlotte De Vignemont was the highest place finisher in the girl s squad in 70 th. Helle Kuipers did very well for a year 3 girl s finishing in 73 rd position. Nel Holburn-Lewis and Oliver Contri- Frantz were the top finishers in their squads in 59 th and 94 th position respectively. Well done to everyone involved in the very competitive world of cross country. Safa Community School Students trial a Tennis Ball boy/girl session. We have been fortunate enough to have Francis Clarke Tennis Academy Coaches come into school to give our students a professional training session on how to become a tennis ball kid. I am proud to say that all of our students embraced the opportunity fully and displayed some fantastic skills of rolling, bouncing and catching several balls at a time accurately (it s harder than what you think, as Mr. Myers demonstrated!). They even managed to stand still for two minutes, holding two balls behind their backs without moving or talking! Thank you Year 7, 8 and 9 for showing great professionalism as tennis ball boys and girls.
Safa Community School Super Skiers December 2016 What a wonderfully talented group of skiers we have a Safa Community School. I was astounded at the speed our boys were flying down the Slalom. Six of our students competed in the recent Dubai Interschools Ski Competition and gained the following positions: Under 14's: total competitors 13 Oscar Morgan: James Richardson: Leon Richardson: Jack Valentine: As a team they came 6 th. 1 st 2 nd 5 th 6 th Under 8's total competitors: 11 Samuel Powsney: Alessandro Seghi: 4 th 5 th after the first run in his first ever race. Thank you to Mark Morgan, for helping to organise the event and supporting our boys on the day. Oscar Morgan will be competing in the British Race Circuit, he has 10 races in several countries including; Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Scotland and Finland. This is all in the prelude to Australia in mid-2017 and Europe 2017/18, Good Luck Oscar! We wish all of our skiers the best of luck for the rest of the season! Netball squad The Netball Squads have made a tremendous start to the year being fiercely competitive in their friendly matches. Results against Safa British School were as follows Year 6: 7-2 WON Year 4: 3-1 WON Year 5: 2-1 WON Year 3: 0-2 LOSS The U/14 Netball have proved their pre-season work has paid off with an impressive 13-3 win over a team that had beaten them in the league the year before. Stay tuned for the season ahead.