A Sporting Term

Looking back on the Spring Term, it is hard to believe how much has taken place in 12 short weeks – a real credit to so many pupils and staff and for their dedication to KES Sport. 

Hockey

It has been another exciting and entertaining boys’ hockey season. The U12s made an encouraging start to hockey in the Senior School. Commitment to training and a desire to learn were evident throughout the term, and it was great to see this reflected in some excellent match results. There were record numbers regularly attending U13 training, and it was clear that by the end of the season they were ready to make the transition to full pitch, 11 a-side hockey next year. There was some outstanding hockey from the U14 squads. Both A and B teams passed the ball beautifully and always entertained with their flowing and attacking style. The U15As were perhaps team of the season, remaining unbeaten in regular fixtures. At the Avon Championships, they overcame a slow start to finish as runners-up, after some brave performances and some vital last-minute goals. At the subsequent Regional Finals, they produced more brilliant performances to reach the final. After the match finished 0-0, it was an agonising loss on penalties that just prevented the boys from reaching the National Finals.

At the senior end of school, it was the 2nd XI who produced the performance of the season. At the Regional Finals they produced some brilliant hockey in the group stages to finish as runners-up to Exeter College. After a tense semi-final against Truro School finished as a draw, the boys were calm and clinical in the penalty shoot-out to march on to the final, where they faced Exeter once more. Dogged and resolute in defence, KES held out to deny the Devon side a winner and once more it came down to penalties, where KES were once again the team to hold their nerve, claiming the U18T4 Regional Title for the first time.

The 1st XI squad began the season playing against some of the top European club sides at the Reyes Tournament in Barcelona and, after some great performances across the term, brought another excellent season of hockey to an end taking part in the 39th annual KES Bath Schools Hockey Festival founded by former KES teacher, Dr Les Newman. We were delighted to welcome 17 boys’ teams and 11 girls’ teams; resulting in just under 500 pupils playing up to 5 matches each at various venues around Bath. 

Netball

It has been another incredibly busy netball term, with 20 teams  (over 200 girls) representing the School most weekends. This is a true testament to the dedication of staff and pupils, who have played in over 175 games this term. Beyond fixtures and training , we  also offered two Netball Masterclass opportunities, one of which was led by KES OE and Severn Stars Superleague Development player, Daisy Collett, as well as Team Bath Superleague Training Partner, Lily Jones. We also hosted touring team Ryan Catholic College in some highly contested fixtures and in the Summer Term we look forward to hosting the International School of Geneva. Whilst the sheer numbers of girls representing the School grab the headlines, there have been notable team successes throughout the term. The 1st team qualified for the Regional Finals in February this year after coming 2nd in the County tournament in November, and this achievement marks the 25th time that a KES team has qualified for the Regional Finals. Additionally, the 1st team came second in the Collegiate 7s tournament, losing narrowly to Taunton School in the final. Furthermore, the U12 team won, and the U13 team came second in their respective KES tournaments this year. We have five players involved in the Avon County Pathway and three players in the Team Bath Performance Pathway.  In addition, Bethan Mawer has been training within the U17 Welsh National Academy and Amber Tiley has continued within the U19 Team Bath National Performance team this season.

Football

The 1st X1 football team played 12 fixtures across two terms against some very strong schools. All matches were very competitive, and KES performed well in many of these, with the highlights being wins against Sherborne (3-1) and Sidcot (6-1) and creditable draws against BGS (1-1), Marlborough (3-3) and Downside (1-1). There were some excellent team and individual performances including Rory Berry’s hat-trick versus Sidcot, George McDonald’s debut against Clifton and the flowing football played in the second half against Sherborne, led by captain, Finn Miners.  All the boys gave their best, enjoyed the camaraderie and will have many happy memories of the season. The 2nd X1’s greatest moment was the 3-2 win at BGS in the first game in September, followed by a win against Dauntsey’s in what was Year 13s’ final match for KES. Several of the boys played two terms, with special mentions to Archie Hally, the captain, Tom Moir, and the goalkeeper, Freddie Russell, who kept the team entertained throughout! Congratulations to Ali Stewart (Year 12) who played in the FA Youth Cup Quarter Finals with Swindon Town. Well done to all our footballers and good luck to the Year 13s as they move to pastures new.

Rugby 7s 

The second half of the Spring Term has seen an action-packed rugby sevens programme. 

The U13s were in fine form, winning the prestigious Port Regis 7s Tournament. They then followed that up with a great Rosslyn Park Tournament, winning 4 out of their 5 games. The U16 boys were on the live stream at Rosslyn Park in their first fixture against a strong JESS Jumeirah Dubai School and put in a great display but just fell short of a win. Frustrated with the loss, they put in one of the best performances of the week against Marlborough College, beating them 19-7. The U16 girls were fantastic in their first Rosslyn Park experience, winning their first game to put them into the Cup. They continued to impress, including in a hard fought match against eventual winners, Ivybridge. 

The 1st VII were in buoyant mood leading up to Rosslyn Park after bringing home silverware at both their previous tournaments, including winning the Cup at Wycliffe 7s, during which they overcame both Millfield and Cheltenham College in their group. At Rosslyn Park they started smoothly, winning their first two games and setting up the final group match against Millfield, where the winners would progress to the second day. In what was a highly intense and exciting game of rugby, KES fell agonisingly short, losing 14-12. Millfield went onto win the Bowl. The 1st team players had no time to dwell as they then headed to the prestigious Sedbergh 10s, where a challenging group including two National School Cup finalists brought out the very best of our boys on day one. However, there was more to come from the team on day 2.  In front of the live-stream cameras the boys managed to top their group, making it to the plate final against Hurstpierpoint. With all the possession, KES couldn’t quite find their way over the tryline, agonisingly losing the game in golden time. A real highlight of the weekend was our five ‘Sedbergh Legends’, who received their Sedbergh ties for playing in three consecutive National 10s Tournaments. 

Cricket

The U13 and U15 Girls’ teams participated in the Lady Taverners Indoor Cricket Tournament this term, with both teams facing Royal High in the first rounds. Solid batting and great bowling were very much evident and both teams were competitive.   They both progressed to the next round against Millfield, King’s College, Taunton and Taunton School. The KES teams played well, just missing out on qualification for the County Finals.   We know look forward to the Summer term and a full programme for all pupils in the School.

Golf

The Avon Golf Championship took place at Henbury Golf Club last week, with six golfers from KES taking to the fairways. An excellent gross 72 by Lili Marshall was the pick of the scores, playing the back 9 in 1 under par and coming in 3rd in this part of the competition.

Cross-Country

Six of our cross-country runners qualified for the Avon Championships, with Jasmine Fry (Year7) also qualifying for the South West Championships and representing Avon, who finished a very creditable 17th.