Physical Education and Games News
17th June 2022
It is incredible how much can be squeezed into such a short space of time. Over the last four weeks we have seen students competing at the ISA Triathlon, the ISA Regional Athletics Qualifiers, the ISA National Athletics Finals, the ISFA Football Finals, numerous school cricket fixtures, House Swimming Galas and not forgetting the fantastic Jubilee Dance performances, all choreographed by Miss Gallop.
All the students from Reception to Year 6, worked incredibly hard under the expert guidance of Miss Gallop preparing their dance performances for the Jubilee celebrations. The students' efforts in learning the dances in such a short space of time was outstanding and it was a pleasure to watch them perform at the Jubilee celebrations just before the half term break. The first two House Swimming Galas of the year also took place before half term with the Year 3 and Year 6 students all participating in numerous races. With two Galas still to go Brunel and Barnardo lead the way, closely followed by Jenner and Seacole. In Physical Education students are now busily preparing for their Sports Days, which will be coming up during the latter part of the term.
This year's ISA Triathlon was held at Ipswich High School and thanks to the support of numerous parents we were able to transport 10 students, bikes and kit to the event. A triathlon is a real test of skill and endurance with competitors having to complete a swim, bike ride and run. It was a wonderful day and all the students showed great determination and effort in completing the course. We had a number of outstanding finishes including one student who won the Girls TriSar 1 race and another who came third in the Boys TriStar 1 race.
Next came the ISA Regional Athletics Qualifiers at Bedford International Athletics Stadium. We took 24 students from Years 4 to 6 to the event which had a total of 29 schools competing at it. Once again Gateway students rose to the challenge and we managed to claim first place finishes in the U11 Girls 80m sprint, U11 Boys 150m sprint, U11 Boys 600m & the U11 Girls 4x100m Relay. At the conclusion of the meeting 8 Gateway students had managed to qualify for the ISA National Athletics Finals in Manchester. An early start last Monday saw these qualifiers make the long journey to Manchester where they had the opportunity to compete against athletes from all over the UK. All the students should be incredibly proud of their achievements at the Finals and we managed to claim bronze medals in the U11 Girls 80m sprint and the U11 Girls 4x100m relay.
On Wednesday, the ISFA U11 Girls Football Finals took place at St George’s Park and having qualified by winning their Regional qualifier the team travelled in great spirits. The team played some fantastic football on what was an extremely hot day, claiming two excellent victories. Unfortunately, three narrow defeats in our other group matches meant that we just missed out on qualification to the semi finals. Over the course of the year this team has played some wonderful football and they should be very proud of the progress and achievements they have made.