PE Students of the Month – September
Congratulations to the following students who are our PE Stars of the Month!
National Fitness Week
Last week during SMSC, all students learnt about the importance of Fitness and why having a healthy active lifestyle is so important. National Fitness Day was on Wednesday 23rd September 2020 and the day is a chance to highlight the role physical activity plays across the UK, helping us raise awareness of its importance in helping us lead healthier and active lifestyles. National Fitness Day is the most active day of the year and the day to celebrate the role that physical activity plays across the UK. It is a day when people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities come together to celebrate the fun of fitness. The day brings the nation together to remind us why it’s good to move, highlighting the role that physical activity plays in helping us lead healthier, happier lives both physically and mentally.
At Presdales we celebrated it over this whole week with a different year group each day joining the PE department and Presdales staff for a walk/jog/run at lunchtime on the field. It was great to see so many students and staff involved! A huge well done to those who joined us for some fitness and R1’s have been given to those who participated. During form time students also completed a form ‘Instagram’ page to promote National Fitness Day – please see the photo below for their fantastic quotes/inspiring pictures displayed in the Sports Hall.
Mrs Dann
Head of PE
News from PE
Hockey
The U13 hockey team competed in the County Hockey Finals at Queenswood this evening. They qualified after winning all 4 of their group matches, and continued that good form in this tournament. Their first match was against Queenswood ‘A’ and the girls fought back from 0-2 down to draw 2-2. In their next matches against RMS and Dame Alice Owen, they won 2-0 and 4-0 respectively. Unfortunately, they didn’t reach the final as Queenswood scored 2 more goals, but the girls should be very proud of their achievements. They’ve played 7 County matches, won 6 and drew 1. They’ve scored over 25 goals and conceded only 4. This is a young team of mostly Y7s playing against Y8s so they will be even stronger next season! Well done girls!!
Netball
The Year 10 Netball Team are COUNTY CHAMPIONS!
Last week they played in the final of the Schools Netball County Competition having won all their games so far this season. They won 37-25 against a very good Broxbourne team and played the most outstanding game of netball I’ve seen them play in 4 years! They worked so hard for each other and showed exceptional levels of performance and resilience. So, so proud of you all! Huge congratulations and well done girls!
Athletics
Ellie Bostock (Year 8) was the Jane Branford Scholarship winner with HAWCS Athletics Club. She won the Herts County Championships U15 Girls Shot Putt competition today, with a new championship best performance of 11.88m, which is also the English School National Standard! Well done Ellie, this is brilliant!
Khadijah Hyjazy (Year 9) recently competed and represented HAWCS Athletics Club in the long jump at the Lee Valley – Herts County Indoor Championships. She jumped 4:31m and won a bronze medal! Well done Khadijah this is a brilliant achievement!!
News from PE
PE Students of the Month – February
Congratulations to the following students who are our PE Stars of the Month!
Sportshall Athletics
A huge ‘well done’ to the Year 7 and 8 Sportshall Athletics teams who both competed in the District Finals last week. They all performed so well!
The Year 7’s came in 1st place and have therefore made it to the County Finals on 17th March.
The Year 8’s came in joint 1st place with Simon Balle but unfortunately there isn’t a County finals competition for the Year 8’s.
Cricket
Well done to the U13 cricket team who came 3rd place last Friday at the county cricket competition – narrowly missing out on 2nd! We lost our first game to Haileybury, beat Beaumont and, after thinking we had a draw against Simon Balle, were told we lost out by 1 point. The girls were brilliant, getting better as each game went on…. well done!
Netball
Year 9
Well done to both the Year 9 Netball teams who participated in the District Tournament on Tuesday! The teams came 4th and 2nd overall. Star players were Brooke Taylor and Juliette James.
Year 10
Well done to the Year 10 Netball team who won 33-30 in the semi-final of the County Cup this week against Chauncy! The County final is next Thursday evening. Star player was Maisy Henn.
Hockey
Well done to the Year 8 hockey team who represented Presdales in the District tournament on Wednesday. The conditions were horrid, but that did not deter our girls! Despite being a player short, Presdales showed great quality and commitment to win all 3 matches and win the tournament overall. Joint star players were Alicia Sharpner and Izzy Stewart who ‘ran the show’ throughout. Great performance girls, well done!
Rugby
Congratulations to Maggie Bristow and Maddie Robb in Year 10 who have been selected for the U15 County Rugby team and to Hannah Emery in Year 13 who has made the U18 County team!
Also well done to the Welwyn U15 rugby team which consists of Presdales students Jess Walker, Charlotte Lawrence, Darcey Lythall, Maggie Bristow and Maddie Robb who have made it to the last 8 teams nationwide in the cup competition.
Tennis
Charlotte Slack was the winner of Harlow Grade 3 Regional 14U Girls Singles Tennis Tournament during half term. She played two comfortable matches winning 4-0 4-1 quarters and 6-1 6-1 in the semi’s and then went onto the final. She played a girl she has not beaten before so it was a challenge. She lost the first set 1-6 but came out to win the second set 6-2. The third set was a 10 point tie break but you need to win by two clear points… Charlotte toughed it out and won 11-9. Hard work pays off! Well done Charlotte!
Cross Country
Bethany Botheras (Year 7) competed in the National Cross-country competition at Nottingham in half term. She was one of the youngest of her 2yr age group and was doing really well at the half way stage, looking strong. Unfortunately, she then lost one of her running spikes in the horrendous conditions and couldn’t get it back so decided to run the last km in just her sock! Beth showed great determination and strength of character. Your resilience is unbelievable, Beth, and we know you’ll be back next year fighting even harder! Well done!
Herts Basketball County Trials 2020
If you are interested, please email Mrs Dann on dannl@presdales.herts.sch.uk to get the registration form.
News from PE
Cross Country
Well done to Alice, Beth and Martha in Year 7 who recently competed in the Hertfordshire Schools cross country championships. The girls were fantastic and did so well on the tough course! You should be very proud of yourselves!
Beth also had a great time on Wednesday afternoon being the hare for the primary cross-country race at Hertford Rugby Club. She also did some marshalling and handed out the medals and trophies! Well done, Beth, and thank you for representing the school!
Hockey
U13s
Presdales U13s hockey team played a County Cup match against Parmiters School last week. It was a closely contested match, the 1st half ending 1-1. However, Presdales stepped it up in the 2nd half to win 4-1. That’s 3 wins out of 3, with the final group game taking place next week to secure a place in the County semi-finals. Great performance girls, well done! Star player was Martha Ker who scored all 3 second half goals.
The U13 County Cup team then competed again this week and beat RMS in their final game in the round, even after waiting over an hour for the game to start. The score was 6-1 with some amazing goals from Martha Kerr…. making her Star Player from our team and the opposition! Well done girls, you were awesome! Good luck in the finals in March!
Year 9/10
A massive well done to the Year 9/10 hockey team who last week won the District tournament…. and with 8 players, thanks to the Year 9 parents evening! Well done girls… fab matches winning 6-0 and 7-0 against John Warner and Simon Balle schools.
Sportshall Athletics
Huge congratulations to the Year 7 and 8 Sportshall Athletics teams who have both qualified for the District Final on Wed 26th February! Both teams also came out in 1st place, which is amazing! Good luck in the final!
Football
Year 7
The Year 7’s played a mini round-robin 7 a-side football friendly last night at Simon Balle. We fielded two teams who played 2 matches each. The games were closely contested, with Presdales winning 2, drawing 1 and losing one. The scores were 1-0, 3-0, 0-0 and 1-2. The matches were played in a great spirit, competitive with lots of good football. The girls were a great credit to themselves and Presdales. Well done, excellent performances.
Year 8
The Year 8 football team played in the District 6-a side Football tournament last week. The girls played really well, but just couldn’t find the net in the first couple of matches drawing 0-0 against John Warner & St Mary’s. They finished with a great 1-0 win against Goffs to come 2nd overall. Well done girls! Star player was Caitlin Ryan.
U14s
The U14 Girls Football Team played their semi-final match against a strong Goffs team this evening. Unfortunately, Goffs prevailed, winning 3-1, but the score could easily have been the other way around. What a match!
The commitment and effort of our girls was simply outstanding to see! After going 0-2 down in the 1st half, we changed formation to go all-out attack in the second half. This changed the dynamic of the match and the girls were unlucky not to score more goals and change the outcome. Regardless, we should feel incredibly proud of their efforts. The girls literally worked their socks off!
So, so proud of you girls. Getting to the semi-final was a great achievement – next year the final! Eva Cullen was voted POTM by Goffs. Coaches POTM split between Amelie Powis and Hannah Nash but the whole team deserves it!
Missing from the team photo is Amber L, who unfortunately got injured and left just before the end to get treatment.
Cricket
U13s
Well done to the U13 Cricket team who last week won their tournament to get them in to the county finals at the end of the month! Some excellent bowling, batting and fielding. Well done girls! Special mention to captain Eva Cullen who scored a 6 and bowled out 5 people!
U15s
Well done to the U15 cricket team who competed in the Indoor Lady Taverners tournament on Thursday. They won 2 matches against Freman College and Onslow but unfortunately lost by 7 runs to Beamount to just miss out a place in the County finals. Star players were Lotty Hobson and Hannah Stapleton.
Thank you to Mr Hobson for running a training session for the U13 and U15 team and coaching them yesterday.
Netball
Well done to the Year 7 netballers who played against Simon Balle this week! We had 2 games going where the girls were so versatile to mix between both games and positions! We won both games: 17-2 and 5-1. Fantastic play girls! Star players were Ellen and Olive.
Swimming
Well done to all of the girls who competed in the swimming gala this week at John Warner! There were too many medals to count, great job girls!
Presdales Equestrian Team
Brook Farm Equestrian Centre NSEA Competition run by Felsted School, Essex, on 1st February 2020
It was lovely to see Ruby Robinson compete at her first show for Presdales, going clear in her very large class in 80cm, but unfortunately not placed this time. Well done to Lucy French, who also competed and went clear in the 80cm on a reformed Jaffa… good for you! Darcy’s pony was not playing ball this time out, but it will be good to see her bringing him out again.
The next class was the 90cm Windsor qualifier with 15 teams trying to gain the coveted top two qualification placings. Some of the teams had come all the way from Sussex to compete. Our team of Ruby Barrs, Connie Harrington, Freya Naylor Stewart and Lucy French managed to go round landing on zero penalties and with very quick rounds. We had to wait until well after the class had finished to find out how they had done. What a result! 1st place and now on their way to the Royal Windsor Horse Show on 16th May. I am just relieved we don’t have to travel to Cheshire for another qualifier!
To top it all, Ruby Barrs came second as an individual in the 90cm class in an incredibly strong group.
The following class was the 1m Hickstead qualifier and we only had 3 in the team, Freya, Ruby and Connie, but it was not our time in this event.
Well done to everyone that took part. Presdales are very lucky to have you guys in their school, and thank you to the school for supporting us.
By Ms Naylor (Equestrian Team Organiser)
Equestrian Vaulting
Summer Hobbs (Year 8) recently had an equestrian vaulting competition. Vaulting is gymnastics on a moving horse and she came a very impressive 2nd place! Well done Summer, what a brilliant achievement!
Essex County and Eastern Counties Indoor Championships at Lee Valley
On Saturday, Jess Downing in Year 9 competed in the Essex County and Eastern Counties Indoor Championships at Lee Valley in the 60m hurdles. She got through the heats and then the semi-final. In the final she came 5th (so 5th in the whole of the Eastern Counties!) but she came 3rd in the Essex County Championships and therefore got herself a well-deserved bronze medal! Well done Jess, this is a fantastic achievement.
