Another busy term draws to a close and I would like to reflect on the large amount of Sport and Physical Activity which has taken place since September.
This term has been incredibly busy, with exceptional level of participation across all our sporting disciplines. We’ve had record numbers of pupils representing the school in hockey, football, netball, equestrian events, sailing, canoeing and swimming.
Since September, over 550 of our pupils have represented the school in at least one fixture and many more have represented their form or house in sporting events, such as house cross country.
This level of commitment is truly inspiring. It takes dedication, perseverance, and a genuine love of sport to balance training and matches alongside academic studies. All pupils have all shown fantastic effort, and their enthusiasm for representing Kimbolton has been a joy to see.
The Football and Hockey teams have been where most of our pupils have represented the school this term.
The 1st XI girls hockey team have grown as the season has progressed, with notable victories against Stamford, Bedford Modern, Wellingborough and Forest. They also had several cup games, going through the first couple of rounds, matching and competing strongly against much larger schools which aided their growth as a team.
The 1st XI Football team have had a very similar season, being able to compete and come away with a result against notoriously strong opponents such as Repton, Brooke House and Forest. They also close to a huge cup upset against Bede’s School having been 2-1 up, with Sam then having a contentious goal ruled out for offside. Mr Hope’s VAR lines on the VEO footage suggested it should have been awarded, but they bowed out of the ISFA cup with their heads held high.
The strength in depth in the senior years has led to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th XI’s in both Football and Hockey enjoying successful seasons, certainly the best in recent years.
The 2nd to 4th teams across both sports scored 111 goals between them, only conceding 65. Special mention to the 3rd XI Girls Hockey team who were undefeated all term with 5 wins and 4 draws. The dedication of the UVIth to senior sport has had a huge influence on the senior teams so well done to all who committed and represented Kimbolton by example.
The 2nd form Girls have enjoyed some pleasing results in competitions across three sports, finishing 3rd in the hockey county championships and reaching the 3rd round of the national cup for the first time in both football and netball respectively.
The U14 boys also had a great run in the ESFA National cup reaching the 3rd round of the competition for the first time as well. The U13B team Footballers truly embodied the school values of integrity and endeavour throughout the season and won 6 of their 9 matches under the guidance of Mr Scott.
This term saw the relaunch of the Senior swimming teams and the reopening of the pool has seen many pupils committing to the Thursday training sessions. We had 5 teams swim at the ESSA regional team championships with the senior girls team of Tessa, Emily, Charlie, Eloise and Charlotte qualifying and swam recently in the national finals, finishing 21st nationally which was a fantastic achievement.
We have enjoyed great success in cross country, with all four of our teams qualifying for the regional rounds, with the Junior Boys qualifying as Cambridgeshire & Bedfordshire champions. 24 of our pupils have qualified to represent the district at the Cambs County Cross Country Champions in January, with Harrison and Atticus qualifying as district champions.
It’s been a very busy term of equestrian competitions with Charlie, Tilly, Emmy and Olivia being crowned 1m County Champions and all qualify for the finals at Hickstead in May. Tilly, Lois and Emmy have all achieved individual success in various events whilst representing the school.
The DW team have been training hard this term and were even out on the water in 50mph headwinds in Storm Darragh. They had a strong showing recently down at the National championships in Berkshire where they claimed first novice crew and first mixed novice crew. The sailing team have competed against Uppingham and at the British Schools (Midlands) Championships.
We have also welcomed England Netball player Beth Cobden to school, who ran a coaching masterclass with Ingrams and Senior pupils, whilst recently Barry Hearn OBE, one of the most influential figures in global Sport held a talk and Q&A session organised by Mr Tudor. We have again been named a Top 100 Cricketing School by The Cricketer magazine, with Kimbolton featuring on the front cover.
I want to finish by thanking all the staff involved in Sport at Kimbolton for all their hard work and professionalism this term. Without their dedication and expertise, we wouldn’t be able to give our pupils the opportunities to play Sport. Our pupils have been incredibly busy this term and I hope they all enjoy a great break and stay active.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas,
Mr Lawrence,
Director of Sport
