Our Approach

Curriculum Sports

• All students from Year 3 to the end of Year 8 have five sports lessons across a two-week period.

• From Years 9-Lower Sixth students have four sports lessons over a two-week period.

• Upper Sixth have a compulsory PE lesson twice across the two-week timetable.

• Sports lessons are scheduled as a Year Group activity so that students have the opportunity to collaborate with a wider cohort and work with students of a similar level of technical ability.

• Sports are played on rotation across the year.

• Students have curriculum swimming lessons from Years 3 to 8.

• From Year 9 students can start to make choices about their sports options; they can either decide to keep a broad range of sports or they can start to specialise. Those who are not interested in team sports can move to a fitness and wellbeing programme, including yoga, badminton, football and various fitness sessions which include the use of our fitness suite.

• Junior School students use the Senior School sports facilities, becoming familiar with navigating the Senior School and learning to be independently responsible for their sports kit.

• Unlike many other schools we encourage our students to take part in sports out of school.

• We believe that the more they play and enjoy their sport there will be a greater likelihood of lifelong participation. By playing in different surroundings they improve their skills and understanding of the sports alongside forming wider friendship groups.

CO-CURRICULUM SPORTS AND TRIPS

• We offer a very extensive co-curricular programme with approximately 100 clubs and practices running across any one term either before, during or after school.

• A termly co-curricular programme is published to the students and placed on the parent portal for parents to see.

• The programme will provide details of age groups, times and venues. If a particular session is for a selected team only this will also be specified. Please take time to read the programme carefully.

• If a student signs up for a club we expect them to inform the member of staff running the session when they are unable to attend.

• We aim to offer clubs before, during and after school making it possible for all students to attend some form of co-curricular sport.

• If your daughter has aspirations of representing a BGS team, we strongly encourage her to attend some of the co-curricular practices, although we do understand that students may not be able to attend them all.

• Students may go to our Late Care facility once they have finished sports practices to wait to be collected by parents.

• We offer trips to watch professional matches, often supporting our sports coaches playing for their professional teams; we also offer opportunities for our students to attend sports conferences.

• Each year we run a number of pre-season sport camps at School.

• We also offer a number of residential trips including our Year 8 netballers attending the GSA residential tournament at Condover Hall; a swim camp to various European destinations; and an annual residential rowing camp to prepare for the Summer Regatta season.

• We aim to offer an international sports tour for our senior teams every two-three years.

Our Facilities

• We have outstanding sports facilities with astro pitches on both the Junior and Senior School sites which are used for hockey, lacrosse, netball, football, cricket and tennis.

• We have a large playing field which is used for lacrosse, cricket and athletics.

• We have a 20 metre swimming pool on site.

• A large sports hall and a smaller gym support our delivery of sport.

• We also have a well equipped fitness suite which students use from Year 9 upwards.

• Our second sports site, Cople Fields, is a seven minute drive from school. It houses six full size lacrosse pitches and a stunning clubhouse, where parents can view the games on a cold winter’s morning with a warm cup of coffee in hand. This facility allows us to host regional tournaments in stunning surroundings.

• Given the amount of co-curricular sports sessions taking place at any one time we also make use of some additional off-site facilities. These include using Gordon Fields (Bedford School’s all-weather pitches), the University of Bedfordshire and Bedford Hockey Club and more recently Bedford Cricket Club.

Team Selection

• On average we participate in over 1,000 sports fixtures a year.

• We aim to run as many teams as possible so that a large number of students have the opportunity to experience competitive play; however, undoubtedly there will be occasions when students are not selected to play or move teams.

• Any student that is attending cocurricular practices is expected to be available for school fixtures, both mid-week and on a Saturday during term. If a student is unavailable for a particular weekend fixture, they should make contact with the member of staff in charge of their team, giving plenty of advanced notice.

• Team sheets will be published at the start of the week. There will sometimes be occasions that students are selected to play out of age-group.

• We do wish to support students and their families making plans over the weekend, but would ask that you communicate with us in advance to establish if a student is due to be playing on a given weekend.

• The PE staff will always take a number of factors into account when selecting the best team for a match. They will be looking at technique, a demonstration of commitment and the right skills to form the best team for the opposition. Teams are not set in stone and students may be asked to play up or down depending on the situation.

• Our team of staff are experienced professionals and their decisions on team selection are final. They will always take the time to explain a decision to a student and to provide feedback and strategies towards improvement, where needed.

• Team selection and fixtures are communicated by emails in the Junior School and placed on the Sports Portal in the Senior School.

Our Elite Sport Programme

• With the depth in sporting talent growing every year, the School has seen a significant increase in the number of athletes representing their county and country.

• To support the differing needs of these athletes, we have developed an Athlete Support Programme for students in Years 10 and above. The programme is designed to help athletes achieve their full sporting potential whilst ensuring that academic success is maximised.

• The Athlete Support Programme is tailored to the student’s needs to help her balance academic work alongside her sporting commitments. It will also help to ensure that she has the appropriate rest and recovery time in her sporting programme to enable her to flourish.

Expectations Of Our Students

To maintain a successful, enjoyable and professional sporting programme we have high expectations of our staff and our students. Our staff are fully invested in developing every student’s sporting potential. In return we expect students to:

• Always be on time for sports lessons and practices.

• To come prepared: to have the right kit and equipment with them.

• To be committed: if a student wishes to progress or to represent the school they need to demonstrate commitment; to attend, where they can, additional sessions; and to fully engage in every lesson.

• They need to be resilient. Sport does not always go the right way; they have to learn to pick themselves up, understand what went wrong and try again.

• Students are representing the school at matches. They are expected to uphold our values.

• To be kind and empathic on and off the field of play; both to their teammates and our oppositions.

• We want them to have fun, but to always follow instructions and listen to advice. This is how they will learn.