Sport Year Group Highlights

SPORT

Overview 2021-2022

Our first ‘normal’ year since before the pandemic, and what a year it was. A full schedule of games, fixtures and competitions with PE and games as usual was welcomed by our pupils and the opportunities for all were available across the board.

We were back to the usual format of beginning the year with netball and rugby, before moving to football and hockey after Christmas and finishing with cricket and rounders in the Trinity term. Our gender-neutral approach in the Michaelmas term was a great success with many pupils trying a new sport for the first time. Year 3 spent half a term on each of rugby and netball and Years 4, 5 and 6 were given the choice of what they would like to learn. We also reintroduced the morning fitness ‘Move and Groove’ sessions taking place each morning, that had been such a hit during lockdown. Each morning, a different PE team staff member led the session to hot hits selected by our pupils. It was brilliant to see so many of our pupils, and staff members, wanting to start their day in the best possible way. A huge shoutout must also go to Year 4, who consistently had the best participation rates of the whole Junior School.

RUGBY AND NETBALL

Our gender-neutral approach in the Michaelmas term was a great success when focusing on rugby and netball and it was fantastic to see many children trying a new sport for the first time.

Highlights included the Year 5 block rugby fixture against Colfe’s with all three matches being incredibly closescoring games and the rugby on show was at a fantastic standard. The Year 6 mixed netball team won the Lewisham Games and went on to represent Lewisham at the London Youth Games. They progressed through the competition to the quarter finals making us, and Lewisham, very proud. Well done to Leila, Imogen, Agnes, Tommi, Andre, Evadnae and Lily.

FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY

During the Lent term, we moved on to football and hockey, with all Prep pupils spending half a term on each.

Within this term, we participated in numerous Lewisham Games football tournaments where our pupils did a sterling job representing St Dunstan’s at these events being held at the Jubilee Ground. St Dunstan’s also hosted some fun hockey sessions and festivals for other schools, which proved to be a great success on our wonderful hockey pitch. Our hockey programme was supported by the wonderful Mr Corbin O’Grady. The uptake of pupils joining our afterschool hockey clubs has been great to see and they have improved their skills and match-play.

CROSS COUNTRY

A keen group of runners competed at the London Youth Games Cross Country event at Parliament Hill. They represented Bromley and Lewisham and ran a tough course which involved, you guessed it, running up a rather large hill!

Congratulations to everyone who raced. A special mention to Luca who finished seventh out of 183 runners in the U11 race. Aside from this wonderful result, there was a great deal of success in cross country this year in local school competitions. Medal winners in these events were Arthur (Year 3), Zahra, Lyla (Year 4) and the Year 4 boy’s relay, Johann (Year 5), Luca, Mati and Ada (Year 6), and the Year 6 boys and mixed teams, across the Merton Court Cross Country, Farringtons, St Dunstan’s and Dulwich Hamlet events. What a fabulous group of runners we have!

SWIMMING

This year has been one of the most successful years that the St Dunstan’s JS swimming squad has ever had. This is largely due to the great depth of swimming talent that we have seen building across Year 6 for quite a while.

The effort that all of our squad members have put into their training at school as well as out of school for some, is a testament to their commitment to swimming. As a result, our Year 5 and 6 swimmers lifted the Lewisham Schools trophy again this year arriving home with a haul of medals, with Tunde winning top boy. The girls gave a strong performance in the highly competitive South of the River Gala, with medal winners Lyla and Imogen excelling in the butterfly and front crawl respectively. The World Championships followed, an exciting trip to the Olympic Pool with Year 6 boys and girls, all performing brilliantly. Medal winners on this occasion were Agnes, Luca, Thomas, Alex and Tunde. Here Tunde won 8 medals, winning the top U11 boy award. The U11 boys’ team came second overall. The IAPs finals followed, with the top 20 teams or individuals qualifying to swim once again at the Aquatic Centre in London. Here our boys (Harry, Thomas, Luca, Tunde, Andre) were exceptional. Making it to the final was achievement enough, but they finished seventh in both the medley and freestyle relays, with Tunde coming fourth overall on 50m breaststroke. Finally, the London Schools arrived, which again is such a high standard event. Ten of our swimmers qualified for the finals, and the same five boys came home with medals. We finished second overall in the mixed schools competition, a great achievement. Well done everyone, you have made your teachers very proud.

CRICKET AND ROUNDERS

During the Trinity term, the focus during games lessons was on cricket and rounders. Our pupils have made huge progress across all areas of cricket and they have applied their skills and tactical understanding across fixtures against various schools.

In particular, we had some great fixtures against Alleyn’s and Colfe’s. In Year 3, we hosted ‘cricket fun skills sessions’ with other schools to supplement their learning and our pupils enjoyed honing their skills with pupils they were unfamiliar with. Our rounders players have developed a great tactical understanding of the game and have become slick fielders, who are capable of striking some powerful balls. They were convincingly successful in their only match.

Mr J Macklin

Junior School Head of Sport & PE