Hockey

Boys U11 AJIS Hockey Competition – Friday 6th Feb

The AJIS U11 Boys Hockey Tournament took place at Bolton School in absolutely bitterly cold and wet conditions. It was one of those days where just standing on the sideline was tough, and every minute in between games was spent hugging the radiators in the pavilion!

There were 12 teams in total and, despite the weather, the standard of hockey remained impressively high. Each game was competitive, demonstrating the overall strength and balance across the group.
The loss to MGS was particularly disappointing: on the balance of play and shots at goal, we should have run out easy winners, but the boys came up against a goalkeeper who was missing nothing, and there was simply no way through him!
The two highlights of the day were definitely beating Kings Macclesfield 1-0, and battling out a 0-0 draw against Cheadle Hulme, who went on to be the eventual group winners. Holding such a strong side demonstrated the squad’s resilience, defensive discipline (led superbly by William) and ability to compete with the best teams in the tournament.

Considering the difficult weather conditions and the quality of opposition, the boys performed admirably throughout the day. The tournament provided valuable experience for them, and their two wins and hard-earned draw reflected strong teamwork, growing confidence, and consistent effort across all five fixtures. Particular notice should be given to our youngest squad members, Year 4 pupils, Mikey and Harlow, who more than held their own against larger and stronger boys, and were our nominated Players of the Day.

Tournament Summary

Kings Macc – W 1-0
Stockport Grammar – W 1-0
Cheadle Hulme – D 0-0
Manchester Grammar – L 2-1
Kings Chester – L 3-1

Basketball

On Wednesday 11th February, the basketball team headed to the finals at the Belle Vue Basketball Centre. We arrived in plenty of time, so the team had a chance to practice lots of shooting! There were 10 teams involved, which were split into 2 groups. In our group, we played Beaver Road first, which was a tough match; we struggled to get going, and it resulted in a loss. The team regrouped after that and had 2 good wins against Holy Trinity and Plymouth Grove. Our final group game was against Newall Green, which resulted in a draw. We then had to wait anxiously to see if we had made the top 2 teams in our group. The pupils were delighted we had come second and therefore were playing for a bronze medal. We started the match positively against Oswald Road, with much of the possession but we just couldn’t put our shots away, they then scored, the team thought the game was over, but with seconds to go Victor had the ball turned, shot and scored the whistle then blew, the team were elated to get the draw and both teams were awarded with a bronze medal. The team had a great morning and were delighted to get a bronze medal.

Lesson focus

Lots of fun and learning have also taken place in February. Nursery have just completed a set of lessons of Dance, where they were looking after the animals on Old Macdonald’s farm, as well as going on an exciting bear hunt! Next, they will be moving onto striking and fielding games.

Reception and Prep 1 have just finished learning how to play basic rounders, there are definitely some stars for the future here! They are moving on to learning Invasion games.
Prep 2 and Prep 3 have worked really hard on invasion games and how to move towards the ball and into space. Prep 4 to 6 have developed their creativity in gymnastics, with some great routines being shown. Prep 2 to Prep 6 will be moving on to playing net and racket games.

On Friday afternoon, PE lessons for Prep 4 to Prep 6, the boys will continue hockey before moving on to cricket. The girls will continue netball before moving onto rounders. Spring is here, so hopefully the weather will improve, and we can take many of the lessons outside.