SPORTS NEWS SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2013 SCHOOL GAMES KITEMARK We are very proud to announce that we have been awarded the Gold Sainsbury s School Games Kitemark for our commitment to and delivery of PE and school sport, and the dedication of all stakeholders: pupils, parents, teachers and governors, in supporting this. The Kitemark is a Government led awards scheme, with all schools aspiring to achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold status. Over 1600 schools across the country applied for the Kitemark and only 4% (70 schools) achieved Gold status. We were required to fulfil prerequisite criteria and 12 additional Gold level criterions to achieve this accolade. We were one of 300 schools randomly selected for an independent verification interview and having been able to show strong evidence of our commitment we were delighted to receive the following feedback: Whitchurch Primary School demonstrated a strong level of involvement in the School Games and there is clearly a high value placed on sport within the school as a whole. It is commendable that a small school like Whitchurch has such a vast programme and involvement in sporting activities. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support of PE and School Sport at Whitchurch as without all your efforts this accolade would not have been achievable. THE ORATORY TAG RUGBY TOURNAMENT Our tag rugby team began their season with a trip to The Oratory School to take part in their annual Primary Schools tournament, last month. Eight teams took part in this event and in the group stage we were drawn against: Trinity, St Laurences and Englefield. In our first game we started off well and went in to half time level at three tries each. However, Trinity edged the second half winning 7-6. In our next match we played St Laurences and won 6-3. A further win over Englefied 6-3 meant that we had made it to the semi-finals. In the semis we face a strong Sacred Heart team in an exciting, end-to-end match and narrowly missed out on a place in the final thanks to two tries in the last minute from our opponents, who went on to win the tournament. The children played superbly throughout the afternoon s matches and look forward to more tag rugby events throughout the year. Team: Isaac Aitchison, Dan Nicoll, Lewis Rosi, Jamie Lewis, Abi Denning, Beth Darwent, Hadyn Hamilton, Thom Denning and Juno Norman.
HOUSE CROSS COUNTRY TOURNAMENT Our first House Sport competition took place last month as we held a cross country competition for all of the pupils in Key Stage 1 and 2. During the competition six individual races were held with the winners of each race earning 25 house points for their team, and every subsequent place earned 1 less point with everyone who completed the course earning a minimum of 5 house points. The children also took part in a team relay in which every member of the team had to work together to complete 150 metres of the course. The first two races of the day saw the Year 3/4 pupils complete a 900m course, with Lottie Moghul taking victory in the girls race and Thom Denning in the boys race. The Year 5/6 race followed as they completed 1200m and Beth Darwent and Max Ellison won their respective races. In the afternoon, it was the turn of the Year 1 and 2 pupils, who with the aid of Lottie Moghul and Thom Denning acting as pacemakers had to complete a 600m course, and Hannah Bowsher and Fraser Wilson claimed victory and maximum points for their houses. YEAR 5+6 GIRLS 1ST BETH DARWENT 1ST MAX ELLISON 1ST 2ND MIA STOVELL 2ND JAMIE LEWIS 2ND 3RD ABIGAIL DENNING 3RD JAMIE BOWSHER 3RD YEAR 3+4 GIRLS 1ST LOTTIE MOGHUL 1ST THOM DENNING 1ST 2ND JASMINE HOGG 2ND ISAAC AITCHISON 2ND 3RD MIA WIDDOP 3RD HENRY HART 3RD YEAR 1+2 GIRLS YEAR 5+6 BOYS YEAR 3+4 BOYS YEAR 1+2 BOYS 1ST HANNAH BOWSHER 1ST FRASER WILSON 1ST 2ND ELIZABETH STEAD 2ND AURYN AITCHISON 2ND 3RD EVIE M-ROBERTSON 3RD HARRI PHILLIPS 3RD YEAR 5+6 OVERALL YEAR 3+4 OVERALL YEAR 1+2 OVERALL KS1 FOOTBALL VS CRANFORD HOUSE The first fixture of the year for our Year 1 and 2 football team saw them take on Cranford House in a friendly match at the start of this month. Many of our team were representing the school for the first time and despite this we got off to a great start taking a two-nil lead in to half time. Cranford pulled a goal back after the break but two further goals gave us a four-one win. All of our team played superbly and we now look forward to further matches and tournaments for this age group throughout the year. Team:Fraser Wilson, Hannah Bowsher, Elizabeth Stead, Zach Watson, Harri Phillips, Theo Holland, Archie Robb, George Austin, Auryn Aitchison, Henry Cowen, Ethan Day, James Hilton, William Underhay and Leo Moghul
BRADFIELD NETBALL TOURNAMENT With Netball Club becoming more popular than ever before this term we were very excited to take a team of pupils from Years 4-6 to Bradfield College to take part in their annual netball tournament. In the group stages of this event we were drawn against Bucklebury, Cold Ash St Marks and Speenhamland. As a result of winning matches against Bucklebury and Speenhamland, as well as a narrow defeat to Cold Ash, we earned a place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals we faced Churchend Primary, who had not only won this competition for the last 5 years but knocked us out in either the semi or final on three occasions. Our team played magnificently and after normal time the scores were one-all, meaning Golden Goal extra-time had to be played. After five minutes of extra-time the teams were finally separated by a neat finish from Churchend s goal attack. We were extremely proud of how well our team performed and with the majority of our team comprising of pupils from Year 4 and 5 we look forward to next year s event. Team: Abi Denning, Amelie Steen, Isaac Aitchison, Charlie Dixon, Alexandra Allen, Beth Darwent, Marylou Reed, Hadyn Hamilton and Max Ellison. ESFA TOURNAMENTS Over the last couple of weeks our boys and girls football teams have taken part in two football tournaments organised by the English Schools Football Association. Firstly, our boys team travelled to Blewbury to compete against schools from Blewbury, South Moreton and Harwell. In their first game they drew with South Moreton and followed this up with a two-nil victory over Blewbury. This meant that going in to their final game against Harwell they knew only a win would see them progress to the County finals. Despite dominating the game, thanks to some excellent passing football, our team were unable to put the ball in the back of the net, and were beaten by a breakaway goal in the second half. A week later it was the turn of our girls team to try and win this competition. Having successfully navigated their way through the group stages our team faced Stephen Freeman Primary in the semi-finals and thanks to a goal from Abi Denning we won the match one-nil. In the final we faced Goring Primary and, in what was an enthralling match which could have gone either way, we were beaten by a goal from the penalty spot with thirty seconds left on the clock, which meant our team narrowly missed out on a place in the County finals. Boys Team: Isaac Aitchison, Jamie Lewis, Charlie Dixon, Lewis Rosi, Max Ellison, Mia Stovell, Hadyn Hamilton and James Plumridge. Girls Team: Marylou Reed, Abby Manning, Alexandra Allen, Abi Denning, Mia Stovell and Amelie Steen.
LANGTREE PARTNERSHIP CROSS COUNTRY TOURNAMENT Fresh from their efforts during the house competition, our KS2 cross country team took part in the first of four events in the Langtree Partnership Cross Country Series, earlier this month. Sporting their fantastic new kit, which was made possible by our sponsors Food Kick Restaurant, Pangbourne, our team of 19 pupils travelled to Stoke Row to complete a demanding course against teams from Checkendon, South Stoke, Stoke Row and Woodcote. Each race comprised of approximately 30 pupils with the Year 3/4 children completing 1600m and the Year 5/6 children 2400m. The first race was for the Year 3/4 pupils and first past the post was our very own Lottie Moghul, closely followed by Jasmine Hogg in 5 th place and Beth Pasker (14 th ) and Freya Gonsalves (18 th ). In the next race for Year 3/4 boys Thom Denning matched Lottie s feat and won the race with all of our team finishing inside the top 8: Henry Hart (3 rd ), Matthew Rogers (5 th ), Isaac Aitchison (6 th ) and Benjamin Barter (8 th ). With the distance increasing our Year 5/6 teams stepped up to the mark and Beth Darwent completed a Whitchurch first place hat-trick as she won the girls race, followed by Mia Stovell (3 rd ), Abi Denning (6 th ), Amelie Steen (8 th ) and Jasmine Heddle-Bacon (9 th ). The final race of the day was for the Year 5/6 boys and Max Ellison finished superbly in 4 th place, followed by Jamie Bowsher (8 th ), Hadyn Hamilton (9 th ), Alex Oldham (11 th ) and Oliver Mace (18 th ). After the final race, all the scores were added up and we won 2 of the 4 team events, finishing second in the other two, and were announced as overall winners of this event. YEAR 3/4 GIRLS YEAR 3/4 BOYS TEAM PLACES INDIVIDUAL PLACES TEAM PLACES INDIVIDUAL PLACES 1st SOUTH STOKE 1st LOTTIE MOGHUL 1st WHITCHURCH 1st THOM DENNING 2nd WHITCHURCH 5th JASMINE HOGG 2nd WOODCOTE 3rd HENRY HART 3rd CHECKENDON 14th BETH PASKER 3rd STOKE ROW 5th MATTHEW ROGERS 4th STOKE ROW 18th FREYA GONSALVES 4th CHECKENDON 6th ISAAC AITCHISON 5th WOODCOTE 5th SOUTH STOKE 8th BENJAMIN BARTER YEAR 5/6 GIRLS YEAR 5/6 BOYS TEAM PLACES INDIVIDUAL PLACES TEAM PLACES INDIVIDUAL PLACES 1st WHITCHURCH 1st BETH DARWENT 1st CHECKENDON 4th MAX ELLISON 2nd WOODCOTE 3rd MIA STOVELL 2nd WHITCHURCH 8th JAMIE BOWSHER 3rd STOKE ROW 6th ABI DENNING 3rd WOODCOTE 9th HADYN HAMILTON 4th CHECKENDON 8th AMELIE STEEN 4th SOUTH STOKE 11th ALEX OLDHAM 5th SOUTH STOKE 9th JASMINE HEDDLE-BACON 5th STOKE ROW 18th OLIVER MACE OVERALL TEAM SCORES 1st WHITCHURCH 60 POINTS 2nd WOODCOTE 103 POINTS 3rd STOKE ROW 122 POINTS 4th CHECKENDON 128 POINTS 5th SOUTH STOKE 147 POINTS
HOUSE FOOTBALL COMPETITION A fortnight ago our second house sports competition of the year took place as the pupils in KS1 and KS2 competed in a football tournament. The format of this event saw the children competing in their respective houses against their peers from their class, in a round-robin format. First up were the Class 3 pupils and saw the Woodpeckers crowned winners. Next up were Class 4 and Magpies were able to win all three of their matches to win this competition. After lunch, Class 2 took to the pitch and, after six exciting matches, which came down to the final match, Magpies pipped Swans to victory. Special mention goes to the boys and girls in Year 4 and 6 who did a superb job of refereeing the matches when they were not playing. YEAR 5+6 YEAR 3+4 PLACE TEAM POINTS PLACE TEAM POINTS 1ST 9 1ST 9 2ND 4 2ND 4 3RD 4 3RD 2 0 1 YEAR 1+2 PLACE TEAM POINTS 1ST 9 2ND 4 3RD 4 0 LANGTREE PARTNERSHIP FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS Last week, we entered two teams in to the Langtree Partnership Football Tournaments. At this event, two competitions took place simultaneously, one for A teams and one for B teams, and saw schools from Checkendon, South Stoke, Stoke Row, Nettlebed and Whitchurch compete. In the B competition our team won all of their opening games: 4-0 against Nettlebed, 3-0 against Checkendon and 5-0 against Stoke Row, meaning they only needing to avoid defeat in their final match, and despite going a goal down, Hadyn Hamilton soon equalised earning us the title of B team champions. In the A team competition our team also won their opening matches: 2-0 against Checkendon and 2-0 against Stoke Row. As a result of Nettlebed also winning all of their matches the final match would decide the winners of the tournament and early in the first half Thom Denning scored what proved to be the winning goal earning us two tournament wins in one afternoon. B team: Oliver Mace, Nevashan Naidoo, Charlie Dixon, Henry Hart, Tom Lorrimore, Abi Denning and Hadyn Hamilton A team: Isaac Aitchison, Max Ellison, Jamie Lewis, Jamie Bowsher, James Plumridge, Mia Stovell and Thom Denning