Physical Education and Games news

It has been a busy few weeks for the Gateway sports teams. The U10s and U11s Boys Football teams both played in two competitions. Firstly, the U11s travelled to John Lyon School to compete in the ISFA U11 National Qualifiers. The standard at this tournament is always very high and we found ourselves in a very tough group. After three very competitive and entertaining group matches we qualified for the knockout stages where we lost in the first round to Highgate School. The boys once again produced some excellent football during the tournament, with the Highgate staff commenting on how impressed they were with our efforts and play.

On the same day our U10 Boys travelled to Claires Court to compete in their annual 6-a-side tournament. They drew their first two group games and therefore needed to win their final match in order to qualify from the group. The boys produced an outstanding display deservedly winning the match two nil. They were eventually beaten 4-2 in the Quarter Finals by The Beacon.

Both the U11s and U10s then went to Bruern Abbey to play in their 6-a-side competitions. In rather wet conditions both teams managed to play some excellent football with the U11s finishing 3rd overall and the U10s winning their competition thanks to four wins and one draw in their five matches.

Over the last few weeks we have also had a number of netball and football fixtures against Gayhurst, Pipers Corner, Chesham Prep, Thorpe House, York House and Claires Court respectively. The U9 girls have had a very busy few weeks. First, we went to a netball tournament at York House which we played extremely well in. The following week, we attended a netball tournament at Pipers Corner. The girls all played really well, showing exceptional skills in defence. To finish off our netball season the Year 4’s went to Pipers on Tuesday. All the girls played lots of netball and enjoyed improving their skills. All our teams have had a fantastic netball season and we would like to congratulate all the students who have participated in lessons and fixtures. The boys have been no less busy and it has been great to see them putting into practice all the work they have been doing in lessons. A particular mention should go to the U11 boys for their efforts in the quadrangular matches at Gayhurst, all four teams worked incredibly hard and produced some excellent performances.

We also had a number of students compete in the ISA Cross Country qualifiers at Abbot's Hill School. All the students running completed the challenging course and we had five runners qualify for the National Finals at Worksop College which is a fantastic achievement. Those runners who attended the National Finals only had a few days recovery before making the journey to Worksop College. Once again all the runners performed exceptionally well on another challenging course. The final primary school cross country race took place at Lowndes Park, Chesham on the same weekend as the National Finals. We had a large number of students running in these races and managed to claim three individual medals. We would like to congratulate and thank all those students who have competed in cross country races this academic year, your efforts and commitment are greatly appreciated.

In PE, students in Year 3 to Year 6 have now completed their Sportshall Athletics work and gymnastics for the term. I have been hugely impressed, especially in gymnastics where students have been working hard to master skills such as the backwards roll and handstand.

We are now looking forward to our final House event of the term, the House Cross Country, which will take place on Monday. This is always a fantastic event and it will hopefully round off another excellent term of sport at Gateway School.

Andrew Bradley