Summer 2013
Wirral Grammar School for Girls | PE Newsletter
IT HAS BEEN A FANTASTIC SUMMER SEASON OF SPORT Summer season has brought rounders, tennis and athletics in abundance and our teams have had numerous successes. Individually a number of girls have represented the district and county and even England (be sure to read the excellent article by Lydia Edgar on representing her country in Handball).
Wirral Athletics Trophy This was the first athletics meet of the season held at The Oval Sports Centre in April. It was not quite athletics season weather but the Wirral team were in high spirits. A number of individuals were victorious and displayed excellent ability on the track and in the field including: India Coy, Claudia Bartlett, Ella Johnson, Emily Darroch, Kelly Cunningham and Juliet Hodder. Great team spirit and commitment from the whole team secured 1st place for Wirral Grammar Girls team and they secured the trophy for another year.
Wirral Athletics Trials
Year 7 District Trials
Huge congratulations to all of our athletes who were selected to represent Wirral in the Merseyside Schools' competition.
Our Year 7 athletics team turned out in force for the district trials at the Oval sports centre. The top 3 athletes from this competition are invited to represent Wirral. Juliet Hodder once again dominated in the 1200m event. Phoebe Ashworth qualified in the 800m and still had plenty of running left in her legs! Georgia Ellis won the javelin competition with a huge 19m throw. There was a Wirral 1, 2, 3 in the High Jump with Daniella Norman winning the competition and successful qualification for Niamh Leong, Anya Peter, Faye Harris, Jess Smith, Ruby Garrigan, Erin Akroyd, Maddie Jones and Millie Osbourne.
Trials took place at the Oval sports centre on Tuesday 7th May and a number of girls produced top 3 finishes against all of our local schools. This guarantees their selection for the Wirral team. Congratulation to: Claudia Bartlett, Ella Johnson, Ruby McNamee, Emily Darroch, Charlotte Claire, Naomi Newstead, Ellie Coulter, Issy Nolan, Sophie McAvoy and Lizzie Forshaw.
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English Schools’ Track and Field cup On Monday the 20th of May our athletics teams travelled to the Oval Sports Centre to take part in the Track and Field cup and try and earn a place in the Regional finals. The Junior team made up of Year 7 and 8 made a good start on the track with standout performances from Emily Darroch, Ella Johnson, Juliet Hodder and Lizzie Forshaw and a brave 1500m from Erin Taylor. They were placed in 3rd position after all of the track events. Only the top 2 qualify so they had a bit of work to do in the field. Luckily an excellent javelin performance from Sophie McAvoy and solid long jumps from Ella and Emily, along with consistent performances elsewhere secured 2nd place for Wirral scoring 298pts. Special mention must also be made for Chloe Pierce, Leah Smith and Jenny Wise who stepped in at last minute. They now qualify for the A final.
The Inter team made up of Year 9 and 10 were down in 5th place after the track events despite an excellent performance from Claudia Bartlett who scored 23 points for her hurdles and brave
running from some girls who stood in at last minute. Naomi Newstead and Michelle Billington were superstars. They really had to perform well in the field. Claudia added to an outstanding individual total, scoring 18 points in the high jump. Consistently good performances in the throwing and jumping events helped us to claw our way up the leader board and the Inter team finished in second place in the district.
points totals. After the field events we were in second place. We then had to perform just as well if not better on the track. A personal best for Ella Johnson in the 200m, another stand out performance from Emily and excellent long distance running from Juliet Hodder and Lizzie Forshaw added to our total. We finished with 331 points overall just 2 points behind 2nd place and 25 points behind the winners. We finished 3rd in the region overall, a fantastic achievement. The girls showed great determination and team work on the day and knowing how close they were to a national final (25 points, so 2 extra points each) will spur them on to do even better next year.
Athletes Represent Merseyside Regional Schools’ Track and Field Cup The junior athletics team qualified for the Regional A final of the English Schools’ Track and Field cup by scoring 298 points in the county round of the competition.
Following their success at the Merseyside championships the following girls were selected to represent the county at the county match v Cheshire on Monday the 8th of July. Congratulations to A n y a P e t e r, N i a m h L e o n g , Georgia Ellis, Juliet Hodder.
In this competition the team of 13 Year 7 and 8 pupils must compete in both a track and a field event. Their time / distance / height giving them a certain number of points towards the team total. The team performed fantastically in the field, Emily Darroch scored a personal best of 4 m 52 cm in the long jump and our javelin and discus throwers picked up big
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Athletes selected for National Schools’ Competition Emily Darroch, Sophie Tarver, Amy Tarver and Claudia Bartlett have been selected to take part in the National Schools’ Finals in J u l y. T h e y w e r e s e l e c t e d following excellent performances in the hurdles (Claudia and Emily) 1500m (Sophie) and High Jump (Amy) during the district and regional rounds of the English Schools’ Track and Field cup. The girls train at Wirral Athletics Club and are very dedicated to training and improving as well as possessing natural talent. They c o m p e t e d a t B i r m i n g h a m ’s Alexandra Stadium against the best athletes in the country. Emily Darroch came 3rd in her heat in a time of 12 seconds. The winning time was 11.8 seconds, the best time in the UK. Emily is competing against athletes a year older so the experience of a national final and her excellent time has fuelled her passion and
desire. Watch out next year’s competitors!
Year 7, 8 and 9 Wirral Schools’ Athletics On Tuesday the 25th June Wirral Grammar alongside West Kirby organised and ran the Year 7, 8 and 9 District Athletics competition. It has been a fantastic season of athletics so far and this competition was no exception. The teams all performed brilliantly, they supported each other throughout the day and worked as a team to accumulate as many points as possible. There were good wins for Emily Mercer, Ella Johnson, Emily Darroch, Sophie McAvoy, Juliet Hodder and Ellie Coulter and some great performances from our long distance athletes and our throwers. The Year 7 team finished a commendable 2 nd behind West Kirby and the Year 8 and 9 team finished as district champions.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL On Friday 14th we took 4 teams to play in the Beach Volleyball tournament at New Brighton beach. This may sound glamorous but with the rain falling and the wind howling it became more like an endurance event. Despite the weather the girls played some excellent volleyball. 36 teams f ro m a ro u n d t h e d i s t r i c t competed. The Year 7 team enjoyed taking part in this competition for the first time and played against older p l a y e r s i n t h e Ye a r 8 tournament. They had a good win against Woodchurch and lost by 2 points to Prenton and 1 point to Birkenhead. The Year 8 team had a fantastic day, beating every team in their pool convincingly. They progressed to the semi-final and beat Woodchurch 21 – 11 and beat Prenton in the final to become beach volleyball champions. The Year 9 team played in the Year 10 competition and came a very credible 4th and the Year 10 team won their pool and progressed to the finals. They lost to Prenton in the semi-final in a very close encounter. Well done to all involved.
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Basketball Team make National Finals Wirral Grammar School 46 – Chetwynde School 15 On Tuesday the 22nd of April the U13 Basketball team travelled to Chetwynde School all the way in Barrow-inFurness, Cumbria to play in their North Zone knock out game. They had qualified for the game by winning the County Tournament and 2 Regional knock out games. Below is a report from captain Connie Hawley. During the game our team worked very hard, we kept on going even when the other team kept on making it hard for us. They were very tough and marked very tight but we managed to get past them and even steel the ball off them. At times the game got a bit feisty but we fought back. We won by a lot as the score was 46-15 but the score does not represent the game at all as they were a strong team. At first we were very nervous and didn’t play to our full potential but we progressed by loads to the end of the game. Over all we did well and we could have done even better if we kept our heads up all the time, other than that our shooting, passing and defence was great. Through the whole game it was hard work but we pulled through and it was fun. The game had a great outcome and we shot a lot better than previous games and we are very proud of each other. I think we could all agree that this game was one of our best games, our defence was very strong, our shooting was better than ever and if we missed we got the majority of the rebounds. This was the final game to qualify for the National Basketball finals. Where the team would face opposition from London, Brentwood and Hertfordshire
BASKETBALL Basketball National Finals The U13 Basketball team travelle d to N ot t in gh a m t o compete in the National Schools’ Finals on Saturday 18th May. The team had fought their way to the fi n a l s w i n n i n g t h e c o u n t y tournament and then travelling as far afield as Cumbria to make their way through the rounds. The team looked smart in their new kit and new hoodies and team spirit was fantastic. A number of dedicated parents made the journey over to Nottingham and Maisie Davis-Trail had made us a delicious good luck cake. The team worked well together and put all the new skills they had learned this year into practice. In the Semi-final they played Greig Academy a very strong basketball school from London. The game was close but unfortunately the
Connie Hawley selected for North West Basketball Team Connie Hawley in Year 8 has been selected to play for the North West Basketball team. Connie has had a fantastic year in Basketball having already captained the Year 8 school team to national finals. Connie was selected for the team after attending selection days in Manchester and two training weekends in Barrow in Furness. The pinnacle of the season was the Regional Development Tournament in Leeds on the 6th and 7th of J u l y. A t t h e r e g i o n a l tournament selectors will watch games and liaise with each regional coach regarding the progress of each regional t e a m p l a y e r. E n g l a n d Basketball are holding the competition to look at choosing players for a Junior
experience and large squad Greig players pulled the game away from us. We then had to play our 3rd / 4th place play off straight away after the hard semi-final and despite weary legs and a couple of injuries the girls showed spirit and courage to keep playing. We finished 4th in the country a fantastic achievement. These girls have improved hugely over the year and been some of the most competitive, determined a n d s m a r t Ye a r 7 a n d 8 sportswomen I have ever seen. Well done!
development squad and for teams to see talent throughout UK. Areas Involved are from London and the South to Yorkshire and North West. The standard of play at the tournament was exceptional and Connie’s team made the final against London (a very strong Basketball area). After the first quarter the North West team were leading but London pulled it back to win 47 – 37. Below is a picture of Connie with the no. 12 for team GB from the Olympics.
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ROUNDERS Wirral Grammar Schools’ Rounders Tournament On Tuesday the 11th of June we hosted the Wirral Grammar Primary Schools’ Tournament. In total approximately 140 Year 5 and 6 pupils from our local schools came to compete and around 40 of our Year 10 pupils helped to organise the tournament. The Year 10 pupils are working towards a level 1 certificate in Sport Leadership and helped to manage teams, umpired, helped with refreshments and generally assisted in the smooth running of the tournament. In the morning the weather was not looking great and the P.E department were wondering if they should cancel the event but we didn’t want to let so many people down so we crossed our fingers for good weather. Asda had sponsored the event and brought refreshments for the participants. Helen and Ian from
Asda were brilliant and became part of the event very quickly. As the afternoon progressed and the sun finally came out all of the pupils and staff were very grateful for their drinks and snacks. The competition ran in two sections and then the four highest scoring teams went through to the semi-finals. These were held between Thornton Hough and Poulton Lancelyn and Higher Bebington and Stanton Road. Higher Bebington and Thornton Hough then progressed to the final and were both awarded with certificates and medals. Higher Bebington were crowned the victors scoring five rounders to Thornton Hough’s four and a half, what a nail biter! It was fantastic to see so many pupils participating; Brackenwood and Stanton Road brought a huge number of participants. This made the competition even more enjoyable, exciting and competitive. Our year 10 pupils worked fantastically well throughout the day. Phoebe Bryan and Lydia
Edgar umpired the final, a daunting task for even the highest qualified umpire or teacher what with the huge number of spectators. Sophie Wilson and Holly McCormack were team managers of the winning team and had the pleasure of presenting the medals. A huge number of girls held less glamorous roles such as giving out refreshments or running score cards to the table officials but every role was vitally important and Miss Fowler would like to thank all of the girls for their hard work. It would be impossible to mention them all individually. The links between our sports leaders and local schools will continue over the coming weeks with Brackenwood and Stanton Road coming to share our facilities and equipment and be coached by the sports leaders throughout the term. Motivation to improve and be involved will be even higher after the tournament, all teams made huge progress over the afternoon.
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from Grace Wiggins and good teamwork helped them to win. They faced a very strong West Year 7 and 8 District Rounders Kirby team in the final. The final score was 3 rounders all. A Tournament fantastic achievement to finish as On Monday afternoon our Year 7 joint winners. and 8 rounders teams took part in the District competition that was The Year 7 A team were also held here at Wirral Grammar victorious and put into practice School for Girls. Due to the the knowledge and tactics they extensive number of girls who have been taught this year. Erin have been committed to training Akroyd, Ruth Hughes and Georgia this year we were able to enter 3 Ellis displayed fantastic skill in the teams in the Year 7 and Year 8 field, putting other schools under competitions. The Year 8 C team a lot of pressure. They were had a couple of good wins and undefeated throughout the entire displayed good team work and afternoon winning by half a knowledge of the rules. The Year rounder in the final against a 8 B t e a m h a d a f a n t a s t i c strong Birkenhead team. The Year competition; there was some 7 B and C teams played their best excellent fielding from Emily rounders to date, they were in a Darroch, Georgia Wake and Chloe difficult section of the competition Pierce that put pressure on all b u t t h e y s t i l l s h o w e d teams, Annie Johnson took the determination and team spirit catch of the day and Ella Johnson throughout the afternoon. ran the quickest to score loads of rounders. The team won the Year 9 and 10 District majority of their games, drew one Rounders Competition game and lost only to West The district competition took Kirby’s A team who progressed to place at Wirral on Tuesday the 9th the final. The Year 8 A team won of July with 8 local schools all of their matches, great batting
ROUNDERS
competing. The Year 10 team displayed excellent team work, fielding and batting and had a number of convincing victories. Their biggest challenge came from a very strong Oldershaw team who had recently won a big county tournament. It was a close game but Wirral put on a great display of skill and used their superior knowledge of the game to win and become district champions. The Year 9 competition was played in two sections and we entered three teams. All teams showed good team work, the C team showed excellent progress throughout the afternoon. The B team had a number of victories and the A team were unbeaten coming into their final game against Upton Convent. This game was very close and finished a draw. The result then went on rounders scored and Wirral were just pipped by Upton who went onto play West Kirby in the final.
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VOLLEYBALL
HANDBALL
U12 District Volleyball Tournament
Lottie Chadwick and Lydia Edgar have been selected to represent England in Handball, they travelled to Sweden to take part in the Partille tournament where 50 countries were represented. Harriet Hughes and Anna Welsh are also training with the squad. Lydia Edgar wrote the following about her experience: The road to Sweden was a very long one! Our first England trials were in February when other people were going skiing. We had to go through lots of trials, weekend camps and selection matches until four of us were selected for the England squad. We felt very proud to be selected for the 22 player squad. We had further training sessions lasting 8 hours i n Wo l v e r h a m p t o n a n d eventually Lottie and I were chosen for the 16 player squad to travel to Sweden. We were sad for our friends because we all wanted to go. Many tears were shed...but we still have next year! When we got our kit with our players numbers on and our red tracksuits we knew we were going. Our coach Robert Price said he wasn’t taking anyone on the trip unless their fitness was up to standard, so everytime we met up we had to do the dreaded yoyo test which contained the torture of running 20m back and forth. But it did work resulting in every team member hitting the target Rob
The Wirral Schools’ U12 Volleyball Championships took place on Wednesday 8th May at Wirral Grammar School for Girls. 11 teams from across the Wirral took part and Wirral Girls entered five Y7 teams. We also provided four very talented referees from Y10 and Y11 to keep track of the matches. All five teams played very well and enjoyed their first ever Volleyball Tournament. Their hard work in training certainly paid off. Wirral Grammar A played their hearts out and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. They made it to a very exciting final against Wasps club team and played in front of a very supportive crowd. Wasps took the lead within the first few minutes but Wirral Grammar staged a comeback with a strong run of points from Erin Ackroyd’s spectacular serve and, encouraged by some very noisy home support they won the set 21 - 17. Congratulations to the winners Wirral A – Ruth Hughes, Niamh Leong, Georgia Ellis and Erin Ackroyd who finished as the U12 W i r r a l S c h o o l s Vo l l e y b a l l Champions.
set. We also had to keep a food diary leading up to Sweden to ensure we were eating the correct foods and give up the chocolate. Was it all worth it? Yes the 10 days in Sweden was amazing, consisting of all of my favourite things; handball, naps, food, more naps and socialising. We went with the U16 boys squad and both played and supported each other in the important tournament called the Partille cup. Unfortunately the Swedes and Norwegians have been playing since they could walk, but the boys managed to get to the semi-finals of the B league. The highlight of our tournament was winning against Quebec. Not many people get to play for their country, win and score a goal-so that was definitely my highlight, but it was also meeting lots of different people from all over the world and seeing a few sights in Sweden, other than the sportshall. Lottie and I learnt a lot about handball while we were there but maybe more importantly we leant to be part of a good team and share a fantastic experience.
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MARTIAL ARTS Sophie Speering in Year 7 has achieved her brown belt in karate and this term competed in the regional competition where she was champion in sparring (fighting against others and winning the most points).
PINEAPPLE DANCE STUDIOS Our GCSE dancers have been rewarded for all their hard work t h i s y e a r, w i t h a t r i p t o Pineapple Dance Studios and to the West End to see two shows. This trip is always very inspiring to our talented dancers and also great fun.
HORSE RIDING Maisie Davies-Trail in Year 8 rode her way to victory at this year’s Cheshire show, she won in the ridden coloured horse class. She went on to compete in the national competition on her 4 year old horse Noble Masterpiece or Heidi to those who know her best. Jessica Smith in Year 7 has also been selected to compete at nationals in dressage and show jumping. She competes for Cheshire pony club. Good luck to both girls in their future endeavors.
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES Our examination P.E classes have been trying their hand at a number of new activities this term including windsurfing and horse riding. These activities have served as a reward for all of their hard work and to enhance their learning. Our GCSE group has been rock climbing at Awesome Walls in Liverpool, an activity that is challenging and great for fitness, and that candidates can use as part of their practical assessment for their course. They choose four sports for assessment and rock climbing is an alternative to the usual team sports. A karate coach has also been working with our GCSE groups and a number of the girls scored very high marks in this discipline helping them to the best possible GCSE grade.
SWIMMING Amy Compton in Year 7 has had a fantastic season in the pool, the highlight being selected to compete at the North West regionals. This was held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on the 1st and 2nd June with amy achieving a personal best in the 400m free and 200m fly. Well done Amy!
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INTERFORM
Year 8 Interform
The Year 8 Summer Interform took place on Thursday 20th June. All girls participated and Year 9 Interform represented their form in either The Year 9 Summer Interform Rounders or Tennis. took place on Monday 17th June. A l l g i r l s p a r t i c i p a t e d a n d The Year 8 were the least lucky represented their form in either with the weather but they were Rounders or Tennis. the still competitive and well organised in the rain. The girls played enthusiastically throughout the competition and In the Tennis competition the girls produced some pleasing team played nicely together and made p e r f o r m a n c e s . T h e Te n n i s very good progress throughout competition was played in very the morning. There was a stand good spirits and with great team out performance from 8M’s tennis work. There was a stand out team who were very driven to win performance from 9L’s tennis as many games as possible players who won 64 games during helped by the excellent skills of the morning. They displayed Grace Wiggins. The rounders was talent and determination and their very competitive and the results hard work in extra-curricular very close with 8B the Rounders practices paid off. In Rounders winners. the competition was very competitive with some great The final results were as follows: hitting and spectacular catches • 6th place with 20 points - 8S on show. The results were as follows:
• 5th place with 38 points - 8F
• 6th place with 20 points - 9J
• 3rd place with 45 points - 8B
• 5th place with 25 points - 9E
• 3rd place with 45 points - 8E
• 4th place with 35 points - 9B
• 2nd place with 55 points - 8C
• 3rd place with 40 points - 9C
• 1st place with 58 points - 8M
• 2nd place with 45 points - 9M • 1st place with 60 points - 9L
Year 7 Interform The Year 7 Summer Interform took place on Wednesday 19th June. All girls participated and represented their form in either Rounders or Tennis. This was the Year 7s first time playing a Summer inter-form competition and their turned up organised, enthusiastic and ready to play. In the Tennis competition the girls made great progress throughout the morning, some of them playing a proper game for the first time. They picked up the rules quickly and played some competitive tennis. There was a stand out performance from 7S’s tennis team who were very driven to win as many games as possible. The rounders was equally as competitive and the results very close with 7H the Rounders victors. The final results were as follows: • 6th place with 13 points - 7P • 5th place with 24 points - 7G • 4th place with 37 points - 7W • 3rd place with 42 points - 7L • 2nd place with 45 points - 7S • 1st place with 60 points - 7H
Well done to all involved, you should be very proud of your teamwork, organisation and determination.
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WIRRAL SCHOOL GAMES
They then faced Prentons Y10 team the trophy to be Wirral school in the final in front of a very Games Champions in Tag Rugby. supportive crowd and went on to win both sets crowning them U15 W i r r a l S c h o o l s Vo l l e y b a l l Champions.
Volleyball
Congratulations to the Wirral Y8 A The U15 Volleyball Championships squad of Lizzie Forshaw, Brianna took place on Wednesday 27th Taylor, Georgia McNally and Becky June at the Oval as part of the Helsby. Wirral School Games sports week. Over forty teams from across the Wirral took part. Wirral Girls entered 8 teams from Year 7, 8, 9 & 10. We also provided four very talented referees from Y10 and Y12 to keep track of each set.
Football The football competition was a tough competition with teams from all over the district displaying some excellent talent. The U15 team of Phoebe Bryan, Izzy Nolan, Sarah Buckley, Jasmine Thorpe, Sophie McAvoy and Sal Mirrlees had a tough draw. They had a slightly slow start to the competition losing to Upton and Weatherhead. As they warmed up they began to show what they could really do, Sophie McAvoy and Phoebe Bryan who both represent Tranmere Rovers showcased some real talent. They put 7 goals past UAB and scored 5 against St Marys with some fantastic skill and determination from Phoebe Bryan and a goal scoring mission from Izzy Nolan. Unfortunately it was a case of too little too late and we just missed out on a semi-final spot.
All teams played extremely well and played some fantastic Volleyball. All eight teams from Wirral Girls were undefeated in their pool and they all made it to the quarter finals. Unfortunately some squads did not Tag Rugby progress beyond this stage as they faced some strong opposition. Wirral Girls entered a particularly strong year 8 team into the Tag Rugby competition with fierce competition from other schools such as Prenton Girls, Birkenhead Girls, South Wirral and SJP. Wirral girls stormed their way through the Group section winning their games 6-1 against Prenton, 5-3 against South Wirral and 5-1 against SJP. The Year 8A squad played their Well done to the team and to all best Volleyball this season and The semi finals were against our girls who took part in the Wirral managed to knock out the Y10 A rivals Birkenhead Girls, however Schools’ Games. squad by winning the close set 21 Wirral girls made a convincing win -19. They played a Y9 Pensby 9-1 to Wirral. With confidence high team in the semi-final with a in the Final playing Against SJP convincing win of 2 sets to nil. Wirral were undefeated and took
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P.E NEWSLETTER Summer 2013
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