Level 3 Tyne & Wear Indoor Rowing Championships

Yesterday (12.2.2013) saw our fastest Indoor rowers from Yrs 7 - 11 representing Newcastle Schools at the Tyne and Wear Indoor Rowing Championships hosted and organised by Gateshead School Sport Partnership with support from British Rowing and Concept 2 at Gateshead International Stadium.

Each of our Secondary and Middle schools across Newcastle where offered the chance to attend a Level 2 Indoor Rowing competition as well as support to host a Level 1 intra school (Inter house) Competition. The Newcastle team was made up with representatives from the following schools:-

  

 

·                Kenton

·                Sacred Heart

·                Gosforth Central Middle

·                Heaton Manor

·                Gosforth Academy

·                Walbottle

·                St Mary’s

·                Benfield

·                Dame Allan’s

 

A number of individuals broke our City Records during the Level 2 competitions but yesterday saw a number of notable performances by our rowers. Matthew Brooks from Dame Allan’s broke not only the Newcastle Schools record but also smashed the County record for yr 10 boys on his way to a Gold medal. Sydney Martin from Kenton broke her own City Record for Yr 9 girls and last years County record on way to a Silver medal.

Another highlight of the competition was watching the yr 10 boys win the team relay event on way to a Gold Medal with the team made up of Matthew Brooks from Dame Allan’s, Aboubaka Konate from Benfield and Jake Bratley from Gosforth Academy (see below).

Team Manager and Newcastle School Games Organiser, Ian Kendall, commented:

“After some impressive results at the School Games Level 2 Indoor Rowing Final the pupils representing Newcastle Schools have stepped up to the mark and really delivered today and in the process have managed to secure 2 GOLD, 3 SILVER and 1 BRONZE medal in the process. Thank you to all the teachers who supported the day to make this happen and well done to everyone for representing Newcastle Schools to such a high standard in both behavior and performance!”

 

Newcastle School Games Level 2 Key Stage 4 Badminton

On Friday 7th December the Centre for Sport on the West Road hosted the Newcastle School Games Key Stage 4 Badminton competitions.  In total 6 boy's teams and 3 girl's teams attended the event and as normal the standard was impressive.  The following schools entered teams:  All Saints, Kenton, Gosforth Academy, Sacred Heart, Heaton Manor and Benfield.



Participants Displaying the Right Way to Win OR Lose.

The boys played out the initial stages of their competition in two groups of 3 to establish who'd play for medal positions, whilst the girls played a straight round-robin to identify their finishing positions.

Always Good to See Smiles.

The event always draws good numbers and the staff and students alike seem to really enjoy the format which involves players being ranked 1-4 and both individual and doubles matches ensuing.  In direct contrast to the Sportshall events this competition allows organisers to actually catch some of the action and the Newcastle School Games Team were thoroughly enthralled by some of the rally's and matches.



Do You Reckon This Was Returned??

After 2 keenly fought competitions the final standings looked like this:

Girls Key Stage 4

GOLD - Heaton Manor

SILVER - Gosforth Academy

BRONZE - Sacred Heart

Following the straight round-robin the top two places were decided by the finest of margins and congratulations must go to all the girls who participated.  Heaton Manor and Gosforth Academy go forward to represent Newcastle at the Level 3 early next year.  (Well done and apologies for the lack of photo's girls.)

Boys Key Stage 4

GOLD - Benfield

SILVER - Heaton Manor

BRONZE - Kenton



Our Boys Competition Winners..... Well Done!

Congratulations to Benfield and Heaton Manor who go forward to represent Newcastle at the Level 3.  The School Games Team and their mascot Paddy would like to thank all the staff and students who attended the event and each of the schools should be proud of their young people; they conducted themselves brilliantly throughout.

Newcastle School Games L2 Key Stage 3 Boys Badminton

It may be a surprise to some that despite the appalling weather and anticipated travel issues the Newcastle School Games Level 2 Key Stage 3 Boys Badminton competition still went ahead successfully yesterday afternoon at Walbottle Campus.

The following schools from across the city ignored the elements and boarded their buses to make the journey:

Kenton, Gosforth Central Middle, St Cuthbert's, Gosforth Junior Academy, Gosforth Academy, Benfield, Heaton Manor and St Mary's.

The Key Stage 3 Badminton has been well attended in recent years and yesterday's event was no different with 13 teams participating and the standard was really high.

As a result of the fantastic sign up and turn out 3 groups were set up and every team played everyone in their group once.  Staff and participants alike threw themselves into the busy schedule and simply got on with getting down to business.

One thing that's stood out to the School Games team this year has been the atmosphere at every event to date; the Sportshall events were really loud and electric and the Table Tennis last week and the Badminton yesterday had a more relaxed whilst competitive feel about them.  Participants were certainly focused and dedicated to performing to the best of their ability and more importantly displayed some great values such as sportsmanship and respect.

Following the group stages winners and runners up progressed to the next round; group winners went on to play each other once and ultimately decide who took home the Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates whilst runners up did exactly the same to decide final placings after the podium finishers.

The final games were hotly contested and participants continued to perform and conduct themselves brilliantly; and the final standings were

GOLD - Benfield

SILVER - Gosforth Central Middle A

BRONZE - St Cuthbert's A

4th - Gosforth Junior Academy A

5th - Gosforth Central Middle B

6th - Heaton Manor

Congratulations to absolutely everyone who took part yesterday, with a special mention for Benfield and Gosforth Central Middle School who are invited to represent Newcastle at the Level 3 School Games event early next year.

Finally huge thanks to Walbottle Campus for hosting the event and all those teams who braved the anticipated traffic issues and weather to attend the competition, which was appreciated very much by the School Games Organising Team. 

Newcastle School Games U13 Boys Table Tennis

Yesterday afternoon, Thursday 22nd November, saw Benfield School host the School Games Level 2 U13's Boys Table Tennis competition here in Newcastle.  Excelsior Academy, Kenton, St Cuthbert's and Newcastle School for Boys all entered teams in an attempt to take home the spoils.

Every team was asked to rank their team members from 1-4 and then the format and fixtures were supplied by the School Games Team; the matches themselves were officiated by the players themselves and they managed this task brilliantly with no disputes taking place; indeed the atmosphere was great with hand shakes, effort and encouragement all being displayed.

As the competition progressed more and more quality Table Tennis was being played, with some games going down to the wire; and where the result ended in a draw, suddenly points scored became important.

Steve Beharall, Lead School Games Organiser, said "we're really pleased with this event, numbers are up and it's fantastic to see some new individual faces and indeed new schools to this years School Games programme.  The standard of play has been great and the participants and school staff have all thrown themselves into proceedings".

The final was eventually played out by Excelsior Academy and Newcastle School for Boys and the podium finishing positions were:

GOLD  -  Newcastle School for Boys

SILVER  -  Excelsior Academy

BRONZE  -  St Cuthbert's

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the event and especially to Newcastle School for Boys who progress to the Level 3 School Games event on the 14th December.





Yr 7 & 8 Aviva Sportshall Athletics

This unique indoor competition is being delivered across Tyne and Wear by School Games Organisers (SGO’s) with the support of sports leaders and teachers with schools in Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland hoping to qualify for the Level 3 County Final on 16^th January at Temple Park Sports Centre in South Tyneside.

Yesterday (15th November, 2012) saw schools take part in the Newcastle School Games Level 2 Sportshall Athletics for year 7 & 8 at 'Centre for Sport' in the inner west of Newcastle.  Over 40 teams competed in what was one of the most exciting competitions we have run so far this academic year. The standard of competition was extremely high and each of the competitors demonstrated the ‘spirit of the games’ values we continually promote which are Respect, Teamwork, Passion, Determination, Self Belief and Honesty.

Gosforth Central Middle School managed to secure Gold medal finishes in each competition with Sacred Heart, St Cuthbert’s and Walbottle Campus finishing in Silver positions. Bronze medal finishes were achieved by Kenton with B teams form Gosforth Central Middle and Sacred Heart.

Our colleagues in PE Departments across the city had the following to say:-

James Barrett, Walbottle Campus said “The overall event has been a fun and enjoyable event. Well organsied and good quick turnarounds”.

David Parker, Benfield School said “Excellent event which was very well organised and ran very efficiently. All pupils seemed to be engaged and enjoying the activities and competitions”.

Paul Lumsden, Gosforth Junior Academy said “Great event and well organised. All pupils thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks”.

Chris Bland, All Saints College said “Well organised, fun for students. Variety of activities allows lots of students to get involved”.

John Bone, St Mary’s Catholic School said “Excellent event, great organisation and opportunity for all students to get involved. They have had a great time, thank you”.

Lisa Burdis, Sacred Heart High School said “Excellent event, well organised as always our girls had a great time, thanks”.

Chris Lee, Kenton School said “Fantastically well organised – as usual! Pupils had a fab time, thank you”.

Ian Beck, St Cuthbert’s said “Pupils thoroughly enjoyed it and well organised, thank you”