It’s been another busy 3-4 weeks with many competitions reaching the later stages. At the time of writing we have 5 boys football teams in District semi finals alongside our U13 Girls still in a National Football competition. Although weather conditions have not been great, we have still managed to fulfill our Saturday fixtures giving lots of boys an opportunity to represent the school. Netball continues to go from strength to strength with our Year 10 Girls reaching the final of the county plate competition. This will take place at 2pm on Tuesday 19th March at Herts and Essex school. In Sportshall Athletics, our teams performed well with the Year 7 Boys finishing 2nd and our Year 7 girls finishing 3rd in the District out of 9 teams competing. As you will have read in our ‘On the Balle’ edition, the Simon Balle Sports leaders continue to lead at many many events throughout the District and County, officiating and leading to a high standard, in doing so giving so many students the opportunity to participate. We are coming towards the end of the Basketball season too and will keep you updated on our progress on social media. Please see below for a quick round up of key moments from the last 2-3 weeks.
Larch Sports
Sport continues to go from strength to strength within the Larch and there is plenty to celebrate. Fundamental to PE and sport is the development of gross motor skills in EYFS; this is hugely supported by the delivery of specialised gross motor interventions for our reception children as well as ensuring regular access to an array of equipment and opportunities to develop whole body movement. Always striving to develop further, our Outdoor Learning team has made great strides in developing a new vision to further support gross motor development.
Engagement in structured sport and tournaments at lunch time continues to be high, with Mr Leonard and Mr Rouse’s Premier League football in full swing for KS2. We are also delighted to see that 70% of our KS2 children have engaged in extracurricular sports clubs this academic year, including dodgeball, karate, table tennis, indoor cricket.
We continue to work with the Hertford and Ware School Sports Partnership to provide varied and enriching opportunities for all in our community. 30 of our Year 4 students recently attended an ‘engage and inspire’ event, led by the partnership, where they participated in a range of activities including: Bollywood dancing, athletics and bowls.
The partnership also provides competitive event opportunities and it is important to note the success of our Y5&6 netball and football teams. Our football team has battled fiercely against local schools and have successfully earnt a place in the semi-final of the Hope Cup which is taking place next week. The netballers have also fought hard and after winning their 3rd round match 15-0 they too are through to the semi-final and face Hunsdon on 14th March.
Upcoming dates and advanced notices:
- Thursday 14th March: Year 5&6 Netball Semi-Final vs Mill Mead
- Thursday 21st March: Year 5&6 District Netball at Wodson Park
- Friday 22nd March: Year 5&6 District Football at Wodson Park
- Monday 25th March: Years 3,4,5 and 6 Cross Country at Hertford Rugby Club
U16 Netball
The U16 netball team have progressed fantastically across the season. We entered the County League knowing we would come up against tough opposition. The team demonstrated excellent tenacity and resilience every game. The girls have developed strong connections across the various court areas and have especially developed their through court attack. This was proven in our last match against Queenswood winning by a staggering 20 goals. The team were fearless in defense flying for interventions, calm and patient in attack and excellent communication and rotations in the shooting circle. It was a great way to end the season.
Year 7 Netball fixture vs Chauncy on Tuesday 6th March.
We played a small tournament between 4 teams. Both SBS teams won all their games. They played really well with excellent passing and moving around the court. Particular merit must go to Lucy B for excellent movement into space. Well done to all!
Hockey
Well done to the year 7 and 8 boys hockey team who went to the county tournament at Haileybury school at the start of the month. Up against some strong opponents the boys put in some fantastic performances narrowly missing out on a place in the semi finals. It has been a great year watching these boys improve and we look forward to seeing them play on an 11-a-side pitch next year!!
U16 Rugby
The Y10/11 Boys rugby team played in the Herts U16 7’s competition yesterday at Woollams and performed very well. They beat JFK in their first game by 3 tries and in their following games against QE Boys and St Clement Danes, we lost out by a try in each game. Charlie O captained the team fantastically and player of the tournament was Stanley M. Well done to all the boys who competed.
Football
Saturday football update – As always, it has been brilliant to see so many students participating in Saturday Football, representing the school and proudly displaying our school values. Saturday mornings has always and will continue to be an opportunity for all students who attend training to be able to participate in competitive matches for the school but not only this students are able to play with their friends and enjoy it.
Unfortunately, this year, due to frozen and waterlogged pitches there have been some disruption to our games against Richard Hale, Katherine Warrington and Roundwood Park with only one or two games going ahead because of access to a 3g surface. We are looking forward to our final fixtures of this year against John Warner (16/03) and Sir John Lawes (23/03).
Year 7 boys
Year 7 Boy’s have had excellent turn out with over 35 boy’s representing the school in Saturday football matches. The team have also made the Semi-Final of the District cup against Richard Hale (8/03).
Year 8 boys
The Year 8 boys have reached the District semi final after a good win against Richard Hale School last week by 4 goals to 2. We now look forward to this weeks’ semi final against
Year 9 boys – Following a 4-1 win over St Mary’s and a bye against Leventhorpe. The Year 9 boys football team play John Warner in the semi final of the district cup. A replay of last year’s final.
Senior boys – What a great season this team has had! After beating Merchant Taylors in the quarter final of the county cup with goals from K.Francis and E.Day the team booked themselves a place in the semi final against Sir John Lawes. Unfortunately, on the day Sir John Lawes were too strong for us and progressed into the final. A great achievement to reach a county cup semi final and the first time a Simon Balle team has gone this far in this competition for some years. All thoughts are now focused on the district cup semi final to be played in a couple of weeks.
Girls
The Girls have had a great half term of success in the District and National Cup. The U13 Girls have won both their games to secure their sport in the third round of the National Cup. Which will be played in Billericay on the 7th March against Mayflower High School. A fantastic achievement as the majority of the Girls are playing up an age group. The U12 Girls have also made it to the district final after winning their group stage which will be played against Chauncy.
