PE Students of the Month – November

Congratulations to the following students who are our PE Stars of the Month!

Hockey

Recently, the U13 Hockey team played in the County tournament. They lost to Haileybury 0-2 in the first game, but then found their stride, beating Hockerhill 2-1, drawing 0-0 v Kingshot and beating Queenswood 3-0.

It was all down to the last group match which we needed to win v Heath Mount to reach the semi-finals. We led 1-0 until literally the last shot of the game when Heath Mount managed to equalise!! The whistle blew as soon as the ball hit the net, a real killer blow for the girls and meant we just lost out to Haileybury.

The girls gave 100% effort all afternoon and did the school proud. Considering many of our girls were in Year 7 playing a year up, their efforts were even more commendable. Scorers were Martha K, Evie M, Alice L, Izzy S and Elinor A.

Star players were Erin Evans and our GK Eva Cullen who was playing her first ever hockey match in goal! She was amazing. Well done, girls, great effort, and roll on next year.

Netball

Year 7

Well done to the Year 7 netballers who played against Simon Balle last week. One of our teams won 10-8 and star play was Sophia Eley. The other team who won 26-7 and star player was Molly Munt. Amazing performance girls!

Two further Year 7 teams were also in action last week. This time against Chauncy. One team won 21-0 and the star player was Bella Husband. Bethany Botheras was the star player for the other team who beat Chauncy 13-2!

Year 8

Well done to the Year 8 netball team who played against Broxbourne in the quarter finals of the County Cup this week. Unfortunately, we lost 22-14 but the girls should be very proud of their excellent efforts and their amazing team work! Star player was Cara Conway-Bake. Also, a big thank you to Evie for coming along and scoring!

Year 9

Well done to our Year 9 netball teams this week. Year 9B won 31-19 against Goffs School and the star player was Brooke Taylor. Year 9A team also won, 25-11, this time against Broxbourne. Star player was Ashley Buckle. Amazing team work girls!

Maisy Henn

Maisy Henn (Year 10) has been selected for the netball long squad for Mavericks U15 School Games. Over 80 girls were at the trial so this is an amazing achievement. The final team is to be selected later next year. Well done Maisy!

Football

Huge congratulations to the U14 football team who had a very tough match this week against a formidable Marlborough team. Presdales emerged victorious after a 1-0 win to reach the semi-finals of the U14s County Cup! Marlborough provided tough opposition and were highly competitive, with lots of tough tackling. The girls held their composure and didn’t react; the way they conducted themselves throughout the whole game is a real credit to the School. It was nerve-racking right until the end as we were unable to finish Marlborough off, hitting the post twice and a lot of near misses. The girls played as if their lives depended on it, showing incredible commitment. Lovely goal by Amber Leighton to secure the victory. Player of the Match was Ella Richardson for some heroic defending and fantastic all round performance. Well done to you all! Bring on the semi-final!

Equestrian Team

Keysoe Equestrian Centre 16th and 17th November: Plate Championships and Windsor and Hickstead Qualifier.

This last weekend was another busy weekend for our equestrian team. On the Saturday, D’arcy Wright competed in the 70cm Championship showjumping class and came a fabulous 3rd out of 56 riders. Ruby Barrs contested the 85cm Eventers Challenge Championship and came a very admirable 7th.

On Sunday, our team of Ruby Barrs, Freya Naylor Stewart, D’arcy Wright and Connie Harrington took part in the 90cm show jumping Royal Windsor Horse Show qualifier. After a storming performance from all 4, we came 4th, missing out on a very competitive place for Windsor.

The team next took part in the Hickstead Eventers Challenge 90cm qualifier. They all had fun, but, unfortunately, we were not placed. Presdales have shone again in a very competitive world of schools equestrianism. Well done girls!!

Swimming

April Mills (Year 7) competed in the Hatfield swimming club winter open meet last weekend. She competed in 7 events across the weekend where she achieved 7 pbs, County qualifying times, a silver and 2 bronzes! This was a full on weekend of racing and April was on form throughout! All her dedication and passion for swimming was shown in her fantastic results. Well done April!

Gynmastics

After completing her first year in Hertfordshire County gymnastics squad, during which she was selected as part of the Herts team for Regionals, Teah Gregory (Year 7) has been successful in being selected for Hertfordshire County Squad again for the 2019/2020 season! Well done, Teah, and good luck for the season ahead!

Last weekend, Holly Martin (Year 9) competed in the British Gymnastics Eastern Counties Regional level 5 tumble and trampette competition. She got a Gold in tumble and Silver in trampette! Congratulations Holly.

 

PE Students of the Month – October

Congratulations to the following students who are our PE Stars of the Month!

Netball

U14s

Well done to our U14 County Netball Team who, on Saturday 11th October, came 3rd overall in the county!!

Results:-

Won 8-7 against STAHS Won 9-1 against Leventhorpe Lost 13-4 against Berkhamstead Won 10-5 against RMS (2nd in the group…) Lost in the semi-finals to Broxbourne. Beat Haileybury in 3rd/4th playoffs so 3rd overall – AMAZING girls!

Star player was Ashley Buckle who was outstanding throughout!

Year 8

Well done to the Year 8 netballers who beat St Mary’s 16-2 last week! Some great play from all the girls. Star player was Jess Ward!

Year 7

Well done to the Year 7 netballers who won 25-0 against St Mary’s last week! Great first game. Star player was Neve McDonald!

Football

The U14 football team won 5-1 tonight against St Albans High School for Girls in the 2nd round of the County Cup.

It was a convincing display on a very tight pitch, with Presdales completely dominating the match. Very assured defensively and lots of fast attacking play! Goals were from Amber Leighton (3), Darci Gillett and Amelie Powis. Amber’s second goal was the highlight with a super strike into the top corner.

Evie Martin captained the side and led by example. Hannah Nash was cool and composed in defence. Amber had a good night in front of goal, scoring a hat trick.

A great all-round display from the girls, with good contributions from every player. Very proud of them and can’t wait for the next round!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­Equestrian Team

The Equestrian team have been competing again!

Aston Le Walls Hickstead Qualifier, 13^th October – The Presdales Equestrian Team were joined by one of our newest members, Evie Lodge, for the arena eventing at Aston Le Walls. Darcy Wright and Evie took part in the 80cm with Darcy narrowly missing out on 2nd place. Evie made a picture perfect round but missed out on a placing.

Connie Harrington, Ruby Barrs and Freya Naylor Stewart were in the 90cm team, and they came 3rd overall, missing out by one place to qualify for Hickstead at the end of next May.

Well done to everyone who took part and braved the mud!

National Schools Equestrian Championships at Addington, 19th and 20th October – The Presdales Equestrian Team were out in force this last weekend to hold our own against schools that had gathered at Addington Equestrian Centre in Buckinghamshire for this Championship. We had two classes to attend as a team and one class for an individual, Ruby Barrs. In the first class we had to go there at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning to take our slot as the second team in to take part in the 90/95 cm show jumping class. 55 different school teams from across the country were competing against us, and out of these, only 8 teams would go through to contest a second round. We had a great first round with some blindingly fast riding from all 4, Hannah Moloney, Connie Harrington, Freya Naylor Stewart and the fastest of them all, Ruby Barrs. As the day progressed, we held onto our place in the final with a fast time and 0 score on penalties. The class had started at 8am and finally by 3pm we found out we were through!

What a thrill it was to take part in the final round. This only started at 7.30pm, luckily all the ponies and horses had a stable to take a rest in all day. We were the first team to go, which is always tricky when you don’t know how the course rides for others. We were fast but knocked too many poles down, we eventually came an incredible 7th overall.

But it wasn’t all over yet, most of us having stayed the night, we all had another show jumping class to compete in, the 1m. Not as many teams in this class though, but still large with 36 teams and 40 individuals. This time around, despite our best efforts, we didn’t get through to the finals.

Ruby Barrs then stayed on for the afternoon to compete in a class which combines show jumping and cross country style fences, where you also get judged on your riding ability. There was a misunderstanding on the course between her and her pony so she gained a penalty which stopped them from progressing any further in the competition.

Well done to everyone who took part and braved the mud! Thank you to Hannah Moloney for coming back to represent Presdales, now that she is at Richard Hale. In the future, we might be competing against her, as Richard Hale will be joining the NSEA. What an achievement for such a small equestrian team. They all looked incredibly smart in the school colours as well.

Well done to everyone who has taken part, including parents for the transportation! A huge thank you also to Ms Naylor for the fantastic photos, reports of the team and organising the Equestrian team for all of these brilliant competitions!

Sailing

Hot on the heels of a successful summer that consolidated her winter and spring training with a number of wins, Daisy Robinson (Year 10) has earned her place in the RYA National Junior Squad for the coming year. This places her in the Top 24 girls in the country in her class of single-handed dinghy sailing. The Topper is an Olympic pathway boat at junior level, and she begins winter training this half-term at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, home of the 2012 Olympics. She has a busy year ahead training and competing across the UK, and next year her travels will take her to Lake Garda, Italy, for the World Championships. Daisy is pictured with her winner’s Trophy won at Royal Harwich Sailing Club, and at Largs, Scotland at the National Championships, August 2019.