A Sporting Term

The Autumn Term has once again seen our pupils performing across a wide variety of sporting activities, with commitment and dedication.

It has been another successful Rugby season, with the School consistently fielding up to 14 teams from U12 to 1st XV. Our pupils have benefited from a superb team of committed coaching staff who have delivered high levels of support and consistently planned challenging and enjoyable sessions. A special thanks must go to Mr Barrett who is leaving at the end of this term to take up the Head of Rugby role at King’s Bruton.  He has contributed enormously to the success of the rugby programme in recent years.

On an individual level, we can be extremely proud of many of our rugby players who are representing the School in the Bath Rugby Academy. We have 25 pupils in the pathway from U14 up to U18 and a special mention must go to Noah Murray, Frankie Foster and Henry Derwent, who are in the Bath Rugby U18 Academy Squad and are also preparing for upcoming league fixtures.

Looking to next term, both players and coaches are looking forward to the 7s season, where the U13s, U14s, U16s and Seniors will be taking part in the highly prestigious Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournament in March, with a notable addition being an U16 Girls’ team this year. The Seniors will also be travelling to Sedbergh in Cumbria, to take part in the National Tens competition, which is always an incredible experience competing against some of the best schools in the country.

It has been another busy and exciting second half of term for the KES Girls’ Hockey teams.

At the top end of the School, it has been wonderful to see over 80 girls commit to hockey in Years 11, 12 and 13, with the school fielding five senior teams…. when we could find suitable opposition!

The U15 squads have worked hard, making significant progress as the season has gone on, with many of the girls aiming to break into the senior squads next year. At U14 level, performances have improved steadily across the A, B and C teams as the season has progressed.

In the younger years, it has been wonderful to see the ongoing progress of our Year 7 and 8 teams. They have worked hard to develop their technical skills and their tactical knowledge, and it is clear that there is much potential coming up through the School.

The indoor hockey season is always brief but never lacks in excitement. The Girls’ U16 squad put in some promising performances in their regional preliminary heat, but just missed out on progression to the next stage. The Boys’ U18 squad were excellent in their first-round competition, winning all their matches to go through to the Regional Finals. Sadly, they did not quite manage to maintain this form in the next round, nevertheless produced some great phases of play throughout the competition and should be proud of their efforts.

As in previous years, KES players continue to make great progress through the GB Hockey Talent pathway, with a significant number of our boys and girls showing that they have the potential to achieve representative honours in the future. Special mention should go to Year 10 pupils, Ava Shaw and Jack Boden who were both part of the England U16 Assessment pathway earlier in the term. This is a great achievement in itself, and both will have learnt a huge amount from the experience.

The Netball programme has seen three squads training in preparation for the first round of the National Schools Competition. Well done to the U14 and U16 teams who narrowly missed out on semi-final placings but learnt so much from the day, with lots of positives to take into next term. The U19s won all their pool games and faced Collegiate in the semi-final which they won 11-9, securing their place in the Regional Finals. This marks the 25th team in KES Netball history to qualify for the Regional Finals, a brilliant accolade for the School. Well done as well to all our players represented across the England Talent Pathway, with special mention to Amber Tiley (Year 13) on her U19 NPL Team Bath Selection and to Bethan Mawer (Year 11) for her success with the U17 Welsh National Squad.

It has been a challenging first half of the football season, with some tough fixtures for the 1st and 2nd XI teams. However, the 1st XI played with determination and battled hard to secure three excellent draws against BGS, Marlborough and Downside. It was also good to see Ali Stewart make his season debut for KES, on loan from Swindon Town Academy! With additional resources to the squad returning next term, there is much to look forward to. The 2nd XI started the term well with a win against BGS, before a run of a mixed set of results, but they enjoyed playing against Ryan Catholic College who were on tour from Australia.

There was great success at the Schools Cross Country Competition held earlier in the term, with 56 pupils taking place and an impressive six gaining a place at the next round. Pupils in Year 7 also enjoyed a swimming gala at Kingswood. Our basketball team played Wycliffe College in our first game for many years, and it is exciting to see this club establishing itself with players from Years 8-13. Our senior badminton players also enjoyed a competitive fixture with Monkton Combe, where we were victorious.

Alongside some excellent team performances, it is also important to recognise that we have KES pupils pursuing a variety of other sports to a high level.  Annabel Howlett (Year 10) gained 1st place in the Grand Western Society Regional Juniors Archery Competition, whilst Alex Chang (Year 9) achieved 4th place in the U14 category of the National Schools southern indoor skiing championships and has now received a National Schools squad invite.  Meanwhile Amy Middlebrough continues to fly the KES flag in the Youth Climbing Series. Please do keep the sports department updated on any sporting success.