Newcastle Schools Travel to National Badminton Finals

Last weekend saw the National Finals of the Center Parcs Badminton Competition take place in Sherwood Forrest, Nottingham; and 3 Newcastle based schools travelled to participate in the event.  Heaton Manor in the Key Stage 3 Girls, Benfield in the Key Stage 4 Boys and the Royal Grammar School in the Key Stage 4 Girls made up the Newcastle contingent; this competition brings the best of the best together and the standard is incredibly high every year.

The 3 schools each started their journey to the finals by entering the School Games Level 2 and Level 3 events in Tyne and Wear, before progressing to the regional round and proving to be too strong for their competition.  Their successes to this point alone are worth recognition, even before travelling to the National Finals.

Heaton Manor's team of 4 Key Stage 3 girls have been kind enough to share a few words written about their experience, following their participation last weekend.......

"The journey to Center Parcs took about 4 hours, so when we arrived we only had time for a quick session in the pool.  We returned to our lodge which was to be our home for the next two nights and devoured a pizza, or two..........

On Saturday morning the tension was high so a decent breakfast was in order to set us up for the busy day ahead.  We got ready and left sharply for the competition which began at 9.30am.  From the moment we arrived we could appreciate the standard of teams and we knew today was going to be tough!

The day taught us some very important lessons, and whilst we came away with no medals we felt we progressed massively in performance and were proud that we had the chance to compete against some of the countries best players."



Well done girls, your staff and Newcastle School Games are very proud of you



their teacher said.......

"they have certainly enjoyed the experience and there were plenty of highlights; not least the meet, greet and photo opportunity with Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, as well as the goody bags and Center Parcs pool.  They were a delight to take away and we're so proud of them."

The 3 Newcastle schools achieved the following....

Benfield - 6th - Key Stage 4 Boys

RGS - 6th - Key Stage 4 Girls

Heaton Manor - 9th - Key Stage 3 Girls 

The Newcastle School Games Team would like to extend their congratulations to the 3 school teams above and we trust you all enjoyed the experience of the weekends competition.

Year 5/6 Girls Football is a huge success

24th April 2013

Yesterday saw the following schools attend our latest girls 5-a-side football indoors at newly refurbished Walker Activity Dome:-

Walkergate

St Charles

Cragside

Benton Park

Byker

This is the first time we have held the football indoors and it was a huge success and we looking at hosting more indoor events. We were really impressed with the level of sportsmanship and fair play in what was a competitive competition.

This girl’s football opportunity is for schools who are interested in taking part in a structured and organised monthly opportunity rather than a regular league competition. Nicola Hepworth from Northumberland FA was there to support the event and to help sign post interested girls into community clubs.

Nicola commented:

"The overall event has been well received by teachers and the girls and I am thrilled to see so many girls engaged in football and thoroughly enjoying themselves. I am happy to work with individual players or schools to develop more community opportunities beyond school."

Ian Kendall School Games Organiser and referee for the night said:

"The girls have really impressed me with their effort and enthusiasm and there was some excellent individual play and excellent goals. A big thank you to all the teachers for giving up their time after school to bring the girls and give them their full support".

A special thank you must also go out to Jill Stacey for refereeing and providing a spare pair of goal keeper gloves :)