Prep School

Welcome back to a very cold, but importantly, dry start of term! The children have settled quickly into Spring term sports and coped well with the cold – lots of layers, gloves and hats this past week.

The Year 5 and 6 children had their first matches on Wednesday, all the Year 5 girls travelled to West Buckland and the boys to Millfield. The girls played WB U11 and U10 girls as they only had a few U10 girls. It was great to play lots of Netball and the girls began to understand the rotation of positions that happens in Bee Flier Netball. The girls played with great enthusiasm and learnt a huge amount, they worked hard on the HPL skill of analysing, one of the strands is precision which involves being able to work within the rules of the domain!

The Year 5 and 6 boys played against Millfield, always a good test at the start of the season, the teams show both resilience and perseverance which are strands of the HPL attitude ‘hardworking’. It was a tough afternoon but the importance of team spirit and realising that all performances are to be built on came through in the post match analysis from the Year 6 boys.

On Thursday, the U11 girls hosted Perrott Hill, the A team worked really hard in a closely fought game. Both teams need to work on shooting and driving towards the ball more effectively but similarly to the Year 5 girls, lots to work on, but good to get the inter-school fixtures going.

Senior School

Netball

This week has been a busy already with plenty of mid-week fixtures for all year groups.

Tuesday saw our first ever fixture with Stover school with the U14 and U15 teams. These teams are hardworking and displayed excellent defending in the D making countless turnovers for the team.

On Wednesday the U12A and U13B teams went to Perrot Hill. U13B Team took a convincing win and worked well as team on court. To develop further the team reinforced the idea of reducing the number of overhead passes as they are easily intercepted and worked on getting in front of the defender to receive the pass. U12As worked well and showed promise as team. They will continue to develop the variety and consistency of passes, and their sequence of play.

The U13A Team faced some tough opposition in the annual Millfield Tournament. They developed as a team and began showing some passing sequences down the court, and made some excellent turnovers through the afternoon. We struggled at times to get in front of our defenders which led to a loss of possession at vital times in the game. Overall, a pleasing start and lots to work with throughout the season.

Hockey 1st and 2nd XI

The 1st and 2nd XI took a trip to Downside school. The 1st XI were up first in a tightly contested game. We scored 3 goals in the first 17 minutes, and then took our foot off the gas. There were 2 great finishes from Caspar, and a lovely worked goal from Alfie and Franky. In the 2nd half Downside tried to work themselves back into the match, scoring an early goal. Queen’s defended resiliently for the remainder and managed to come out with a 3-1 win.

The 2nd XI battled hard through the majority of the match, and it was extremely competitive. Queen’s created chances and if more clinical could have scored a few more goals. Tadhg in goal made a few vital saves and clearances that continued to keep the squad in the match. On this occasion, it wasn’t to be, but a very promising performance ready for the next match vs Collegiate.

U15A Boys vs. Downside

The U15 Boys got off to a flying start last weekend against Downside School. With teams eventually matched on paper, Queen’s opened the scoring shortly

after the toss with a fast-paced attack and clinical finish from Alex. Queen’s pressed for early dominance and within 5 minutes found themselves 3-0 up through an immaculate short corner routine and sublime top corner finish from Thomas.  Thomas dominated the middle of the field and combined with the pace of Hartland, relentless efforts of James and skilfulness from Oliver, Queen’s were quite simply unplayable. While the score line was impressive, the attitudes and determination of the U15 was a testament to a collective team effort and group work ethic.

U15B Boys vs. Downside

The U15B team played their first fixture of the season against Downside this weekend. Queens came out the blocks fast in the first half creating many chances but were unable to capitalise. Their persistent pressure ended up with Queen’s scoring from a short corner, through Ben Weeks. Although Queen’s had the majority of possession and field position throughout the game, Downside were able to get a goal back through a fast counterattack.

Overall it was a very positive match showing the team’s potential for the rest of the season.

Swimming

A small but mighty group attended the swimming gala at King’s College this week.

Some excellent performances from the U16 and U18 swimmers saw some personal bests and a number of nail-biting finishes.

Well done to Xilin who performed the 50m Fly and 100m Freestyle, Elizabeth who stepped up to swim the 100IM and to Axel who won a number of his events.

Thank you all swimmers who took part and competed to the best of their ability.