SPRING TERM
MARCH 2023
IN THE 'SPORTLIGHT'
TROPHY CABINET
TOURNAMENTS
HOCKEY REPORTS
NETBALL REPORTS
LACROSSE REPORTS
IN OTHER SPORTS
IN THE CURRICULUM
NEW AND IMPROVED
SENIORS @LACROSSE NATIONALS
L4 BELFAST TOUR
KATE HAYWOOD VISIT
SAVE THE DATES
THANK YOU
Evie was selected to play for Scotland in the Quadrangular, an international competition, like the Home Internationals, but betweenWales, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland. The team consists of 4 U17 girls and 6 U16 boys competing in the Netherlands on 3-6 April. This was her Evie's first time representing Scotland. She has also been selected as one of the 8 members of the Scottish girls performance squad.
In November 2022 she played in the Justin Rose Junior Telegraph Championship in Portugal along with 11 other UK players. The tournament is the junior equivalent of a golf major and a big step up competing against the best players in the UK. Over 17,500 qualifying rounds of golf were played, with Evie qualifying for the tournament by shooting -2 at Kilspindie Golf Club. She learned a lot fro the competition to take to the next season and worked very hard over
during the past winter with the Scottish golf team, reducing her handicap to scratch, ready for the season ahead!
Great effort Evie!
Deepti and Vibha represented St Georges's at the SSBU Secondary Schools National Championships that was held on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 March. Deepti won the Intermediate Girls Singles (2007+) and Vibha the senior title. With both winning the individual titles it was no great surprise that the two of them went on to take the senior doubles title.
Deepti was also chosen as one of the two girls to represent Scotland at the prestigious U15 Europeans in Ibiza this year and is aiming to challenge herself in Europe at the U17 Europeans and International competitions in August 2023.
To cap her exciting progress over the past couple of years, Deepti has been invited for a fully sponsored trip by the Japanese Badminton Association as the only girl to represent Scotland (1boy, 1 girl) in the invitational U16 International Tournament in Japan (Jul 1-2, 2023) with top 16 singles players from leading countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Denmark, Spain, Germany and hosts, Japan. She is looking forward to this challenge.
An impressive start to 2023 for Foil Fencer, Alexia, taking home 2 Golds, a Silver and 3 Bronzes across February and March. This included representing St Georges in the Public School Fencing Competition in Lee Valley Athletics Centre, London, where she fought through to come 3rd in a field of 89.
Alexia mainly fences in U15 Category but has also competed in Stirling Sword Senior Individual and Team Events, Salle Holyrood Senior Open, and Challenge Wratislavia in Poland, continuously pushing herself out of her comfort zone to keep gaining new experience and developing new skills.
Alexia was lucky enough to be selected as an @Limitlesskit Ambassador earlier this year, and is also heading to Poland for Fencing Camp in the summer. Well done Alexia!
ThisseasonTheaworkedhardandwasa positions.Congratulations,fantasticeffo
June2022:GoldmedalattheU14GirlsSabre ScottishSecondarySchoolsChampionship
February2023:Silvermedal-U15women’sSab attheYouthDevelopmentSeries(YDS)Founda forScottishFencing.
March2023:Goldmedal-u15women’ssabrea ScottishFencingsScottishYouthChampionsh
April2023:Silvermedal-U15women’ssabrea YouthDevelopmentSeries(YDS)Foundationfo ScottishFencing
Fantastic achievement by Mollly. She represented Scotland in the T20 World Cup in South Africa. We thoroughly enjoyed watching her on TV, especially hitting the winning runs against the USA! Nail-biting stuff!
Molly's summary:
In August 2022, I travelled to Holland with my team to compete in the World Cup Qualifiers for Scotland U19s. We successfully beat Holland in 3 T20’s, qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa. In January 2023 we played in 3 warm up games: 2 against USA and the other against Sri Lanka.
In our pool we played against India, South Africa and UAE. Unfortunately, we didn’t progress through to the knockout stages and finished the tournament with a match against USA. It was a really competitive game and managed to win in the last over! - Molly
The 1st XI reached the semi-final of the Scottish Cup after dramatic wins over Fettes College and George Watson’s before Christmas, meaning they now faced local rivals MES at home. The team looked the part in their navy kits and were inspired by their enthusiastic supporters. St George’s started the game well with some neat passing moves through the defence and into midfield, while Anna (Upper 6) created a chance with a fast run down the right-hand side MES scored the opening goal to get a 1-0 lead at Half-time. St George’s almost had an equaliser when Susanna’s (Upper 5) reverse stick shot went just past the post. Kate (Upper 6) made a fantastic run that was well defended as the girls tried everything to score. Unfortunately, MES added to their lead late in the game for a 2-0 win. The team can be very proud of their performance in this game and throughout an excellent Scottish Cup run – well done!
Congratulations to Dany (L4) for winning the beginners duet category at the Artistic Swimming competition. Great example that hard work pays off. Well done!
Gre
Congratulations to Anthi for receiving the Swimmer of the month award in January at her swim club Heart of Midlothain ASC.
We are delighted to share some recent news and achievements of Chloe in sport activities.
Chloe had both level 2 and level 3 roller derby matches last weekend against Orkney She played multiple positions for the team and contributed to the victory. W ll d Chl b d f ff ts!
THIS YEAR WE HAVE ADDED NEW SILVERWARE TO OUR TROPHY CABINET.
UPPER 4 HOCKEY TEAM
Winning the East Hockey
LOWER 4 HOCKEY TEAM
Winning the East Hockey S1 Plate Competition
REMOVE HOCKEY TEAM
Winning the Silver at Dollar Academy P7 Hockey Tournament
U11 HOCKEY TEAM
Winning the Silver at Kilgraston u11 Hockey Tournament
On Saturday 4th March 2023, we were delighted to host the 22nd annual 2nd XI Hockey Tournament, kindly sponsored by Brodies LLP. This year, 11 schools from across Scotland competed; High School of Dundee, George Heriot's School, Peebles High School, Mary Erskine School, Morrisons Academy, Edinburgh Academy, Hutchesons' Grammar School, Trinity Academy, Dollar Academy, George Watsons College and St George's School Edinburgh
The tournament aims to deliver a competitive all-girls event for 2nd XI hockey players across Scotland, raising the profile of 2nd XI hockey in Scotland and providing girls with a like-for-like District/Regional experience. It is the highlight of the season for 2nd XI teams and for many players it is the final hockey match of their school career, a special occasion.
It was lovely to see so many girls and spectators on our campus, enjoying the competitive games and also experiencing a fan favourite; the complimentary bacon rolls. After the gruelling round robins, George Watsons College, Dollar Academy, George Heriots School and The Mary Erskine's School qualified for the semi-finals. The semi-finals were nail-biting, both ending with running penalties. Well done to George Watsons College and George Heriots School for making it to the final.
The final was a perfect summary of the day's tournament. It was competitive, showing outstanding hockey skills and a very close game that ended with a sudden death penalty shootout.
Congratulations to George Heriots School for winning this years Brodies LLP 2nd XI Hockey Tournament.
A massive thank you to Brodies LLP for sponsoring this tournament - the highlight of the 2nd XI calendar!
We hope to see you all again next year!
This year we had two teams enter the Kilgraston Tournament: an U11 and an U13 team. The U11 team consisted of P6 and Remove students who demonstrated their ability to play a high standard of attacking hockey. The team won their first game against Queen Victoria School followed by two closely contested draws. Overall, the U11 team finished runners up with Elodie receiving the Umpire’s players of the match The U13 team played some outstanding hockey and finished 3rd after a co place play-off match. Eliza received Umpire’s player of the match f A great Saturday morning of hockey – well don
On Saturday the 4th of March we went to Loretto for the Rosebowl Tournament. We had some really competitive matches in our pool against Scotland U19 and Glenalmond. We then came 2nd in our pool which led us to the semi final where we were tight game but unfortunately Fettes took the l Overall we finished 3rd. This tournament really p p p happening on the following weekend.
On 7 March 2023 St George's hosted the Scotland Lacrosse U14 Tournament. Several schools from across Edinburgh took part. All teams played well and with narrow margins our u14 team won bronze. Thank you
we are already looking forward to next year's tournament.
On Monday 21 March the Remove and P6 Hockey teams travelled early to compete in Dollar’s Junior Hockey Tournament
This was the first time St George’s were invited and we were up against some of the top hockey schools across Scotland.
The P6’s improved with every game, winning both their last two games They secured the 7th Place. If there were a prize for teamwork and dance moves, they would have won gold! The Remove team were dominating from the start. Playing good hockey and connecting as a team. The highlight was beating Dollar 4-0. They worked hard all the way to the finals against ESMS The final was a super competitive and very close match. The girls travelled back to Edinburgh with silver medals around their necks. They can be extremely proud of their performance on the day. Well done!!
Lacrosse Scotland,
The 2XI team have all worked incredibly hard this season, displaying all the new skills they learnt on their trip to the Netherlands in October. It has been a good year even with the many 7:30am meets, including a brilliant 5 - 1 win against Glenalmond! Trying our best at the 2XI Brodies tournament this year drawing 3 of our games, winning against Peebles and unfortunately losing out against MES. We’ve had some much-needed help from our stand in goalies Anna and Molly who have been great (but we are very happy to have Abi back!!)
This year’s 3/4/5 hockey sessions have been perfect ways to take a break from school whilst also making some new friends. As the sessions include students from the U5, L6 and U6, they present amazing opportunities to get to know people who you wouldn’t initially have the chance to mix with. Throughout the season, a sense of comradery has grown within the g t d h other through the wins and the losse team. It couldn’t be denied that som tough as we fought our hardest for wins that unfortunately weren’t alwa achieved but this never diminished o tenacity and passion to improve bot individually and within our teams to hopefully win the next match.
The Lower 5 hockey teams have worked very hard all season, with numbers increasing at training throughout the year and everyone developing, both their individual skills and team cohesion. The B team had a particularly strong performance against Dundee High where they displayed great linking play and some good deflections in the circle. The A team improved hugely over the season, finishing on a high, with a hard fought 2-1 win over George Heriot’s. Good luck to everyone moving onto senior hockey next year.
This season has been a very eventful, with the U4A team playing in 12 matches against 8 different schools such as: Edinburgh Academy, ESMS and Dollar Academy. Out of our 12 matches the A’s won 6, lost 5 and drew 1. You can see our team’s improvement through the season as most of our losses were in the first half of the year. Near the end of our season, the U4 A team competed in the S2 East Hockey tournament, hosted by George Heriots. Everyone on the team played amazingly well, but we unfortunately missed out on a chance of winning the cup after a close and tough match against EA. In the end our team went on to win the Plate in the final against North Berwick High with a final score of 3-0. In our opinion, we think this has been a fantastic hockey season and we can’t wait until next season!
By Sacha and Abby
The U4Bs hockey season has been a fantastic year full of growth, skills development, and fun. We've had several impressive wins against some formidable opponents, including Dollar Academy and Hutchesons Grammar The travel to the away games have nearly been as much fun as the games themselves! We have also grown a huge amount from our losses and have continued developing and improving as the season progressed. The team has also learnt so much this year from each other, but most importantly from our super supportive and inspiring coach Miss Campbell.
By OrlaithThe Lower 4 hockey club were spoilt this season with very high participation numbers. Over 45 girls turned up every Friday to train.
We had a wide range of abilities, some beginners to hockey all the way to girls already playing for clubs.
We witnessed the progression in every player and enjoy seeing how they adapted from an 8 a side half pitch game to an 11 a side full pitch game. Everyone worked hard, not just for themselves but for the team.
We are all proud of these Lower 4 girls and wish them all the best in Upper School. Keep turning up in your masses.
The Remove hockey season has been very fun for us all. In January, we got a new coach because our original coach went on maternity leave. She has really helped us to be the best hockey players we can be. We have played a match every Saturday that we could. Our last Saturday of Remove was the George Watson’s tournament and we came 2nd in the plate, which is 6th overall. To finish off the remove hockey season we played in the Dollar hockey tournament on Monday 20th March and we came 2nd!! This was the highlight of our season and we can’t wait to play 11 a-side in Lower 4!
Hockey has been fun this year. We have really enjoyed playing lots of other schools and getting to travel by coach all the way to Dundee. Playing every Saturday with our teammates has been a great experience and we are looking forward to doing it all over again when we start Remove.
St. Georges Senior Netball has been very successful this year with countless wins. This year, the first team succeeded through to the Semi-finals of the Scot Cup where we had a tight loss against a good side of Royal High. Our commitment and determination have grown us stronger as a team and helped bring us where we are today. Our team have made so many memories that we will cherish in years to come, and with the netball season coming to an end, we just want to express how appreciative we are for every member of the team and Mrs Fourie for helping us get this far!
This year in L5 netball we have improved our skills and understanding of netball. We competed in the U15 Scottish Cup where we played some good netball against some challenging teams, helping increase our confidence in game play. Training sessions have been a lot of fun trying new drills, game play and building are teamwork. We have really enjoyed L5 netball this year! Well done to all your hard work and dedication. All the best with the senior netball next year.
Our Upper 4 Netball club picked up from last season with some great performances during the Scottish Cup. They started bonding as a team and used that within every game and training session. We also welcomed some new players to the game and looking forward to see what this team can deliver next season.
St Georges Netball L4 club, our netball team has vastly improved throughout the term from well-timed passes to successful shots our club of 49 people has really developed. The time spent on the courts with a multitude of wins and some unfortunate losses has allowed us to expand our skills and further add them into gameplay. We have a very welcoming team, which are eager to help, whether it’s with scoring, defending or some much more.
The 1st X Lacrosse had a great season showing huge amounts of improvements from the beginning of January up until Nationals. We had wins against Loretto and Glenalmond and a tight game with Fettes, narrowly losing by 2 goals. Everyone's commitment and determination to improve every week has been amazing and we have all had so much fun.
The U15 had a reduced season playing a handful of fixtures. The girls fought so well and after a narrow loss to Loretto came back fighting later in the season to win against Glenalmond.
U14s had a great season of lacrosse with plenty of girls playing their first ever fixture. They made it to the semi final of the Scottish cup and narrowly lost to Fettes in a 1-0 thriller in the last 8 seconds of the game. We had two teams go up against Glenalmond and with some excellent play across both pitches they secured a win and a draw.
The cross-country runners have been competing weekly in the Lothain Cross Country League since September, with the final race on Wednesday. Our Primary team has been very well represented with over 20 runners competing weekly. Our Secondary team is currently sitting in 4th place.
We have also had a chance to experience competing at the EPSSA cross country festival and Scottish School cross country events over this session.
The autumn and spring term so the return of our Dance club. Students from Lower School and Upper School were all welcome to come along and get involved. The aim of Dance was for dancers to choreograph their own performance in preparation for the St George’s Dance Showcase in March. Students worked extremely hard throughout both terms to produce fantastic dances whilst also being able to showcase to their friends and family all their hard work and effort.
On Sunday 5th March three of our riders and their attended the Kilgraston Scottish Schools Equestrian Championships 2023, National Schools NSEA Show Jumping and Dressage Qualifier at Howe Equestrian Centre
Our riders were: Iona (L4), Isla (L4) and Katie (P6).
In the dressage, Katie riding Billie came third, Iona riding Bwllfa Caramel came fourth and Isla ridinng Lucky Pearl came sixth Their aggregate scores won the Walk-Trot Dressage class In the 50-55cm Show Jumping, Isla Innes was placed third and the team's aggregate scores won the class.
A very successful morning for the St. George's Equestrian Team at a National competition!
Lower School students from P6, R and L4 who had attended the club all season competed in the LS Badminton Championship this half term. A competitive tournament with all students playing a round robin group stage before the top 2 from each group goes through to the knockout stage. It culminated in an exciting final between Chloe and Ghorgie (both L4). Chloe came out victorious with a fine display of badminton. Well done to all students that competed!
Back in January, the P6 Netball team competed in the EPSSA P6 Netball Tournament.
They played good netball and worked hard as a team. We all had a great time and went home undefeated. Well done to all the players!
This year our U10 hockey team was invited to compete in the Compass School Hockey Tournament.
This was very exciting as it was the first hockey game for some of our P5 hockey girls. The excitement was high and the energy levels was through the roof.
The girls progressed with every game. It was great to see how their confidence and game knowledge grew. Well done to all the players and good luck with your P6 Hockey!
The L5 National 5 group had a 3-week block of rock climbing at Alien Rock. The focus of the block was trust and fear, when belaying each other and internal motivation to get higher up the wall each week. It was a fantastic off site experience!
Another fantastic year for senior NPLQ students learning how to become fully qualified lifeguards. The U6 students worked hard in the pool learning the essential skills to become a proficient lifeguard and how to save lives. This qualification can now enable successful candidates to apply for jobs in the leisure industry alongside their study at university or college. They are also able to work seasonal shifts whilst on holiday. Well done to every student for their hard work this year.
“The Uniform Exchange are delighted to fund this exciting new project. The Spin Studio is a wonderful addition to the PE department, broadening the sports offering to St George’s pupils AND staff!”
-
Sarah Marshall from Uniform Exchange
Thank you again to Uniform Exchange for funding the spin bikes. By having these bikes, we further diversify and modernise our PE and Co-Curricular programme. The students are enjoying the new spin sessions during core PE and it's great to see so many girls attending the new Spin Club on a Thursday.
- Christine Fourie, Director of Sport
SOME NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR PE, CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMME AND STAFF BENEFITS ARE:
Physical Education programme, offering spin as an option within core PE for all students from L5 to U6
The Lower 5 Nat 5 class completed a bi-athlon during their course work this term.
New Spin clubs:
Thursday for students
- very popular among the girls
Tuesday for staff
-run by Anna Baker
We are delighted to announce our partnership with Limitless, who will provide high-quality sportswear to our Junior, Lower and Upper Schools. Limitless is committed to ethical trading and reducing its impact on the environment by using more sustainable fabrics.
"Limitless is excited to be supplying St George’s, Edinburgh from September 2023 and looks forward to encouraging and inspiring all their students to enjoy being active." Louise
Allard, Limitless.
"Our partnership with Limitless is a big step forward by providing sportswear making our girls feel comfortable and confident, breaking down barriers to being active and increased participation in PE and Sport."
Christine Fourie, Director of Sport.
On the 10th of March the lacrosse team travelled down to Aldershot, England to take part in the biggest UK Schools Lacrosse tournamentNational Schools. The tournament was over the Saturday and Sunday involving playing 6 matches on the Saturday and 3 pool games the next day followed by the knockout rounds. On the Saturday we were in a pool with a random selection of teams where at the end of the day we were placed into divisions. We narrowly missed out on division 1 and so on the Sunday we were placed in division 2. We played 3 pool games drawing 2 and winning one securing us a place in the knockout rounds. Our first game was against St Georges Ascot, and we won with a score of 5-1. We then progressed to the quarter finals where we played St Helens and were successful. To get to the Semi finals was a very exciting and proud achievement for us and before the match we warmed up the same as the previous matches in our dance circle.
After a round of ‘Cotton eye Joe’ and ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ we felt ready for the match. Honor Simpson scored the first goal of the match but unfortunately Morven St James got a goal after. The match was very intense and we put up a great performance with some brilliant play.
Due to some decisions out of our control a goal of ours was disallowed and Morven St James had a lucky goal after a missed foul. Although this was a disappointing finish for our team we were happy that we had gotten this far. We were pleased with our performance and came away the top ranked school for lacrosse in SCOTLAND. The team moral nd it will be a trip that none
On Friday 24th March bright and early, 36 of our Lower 4 students met at Edinburgh Airport, ready to go on a netball and hockey tour to Belfast. This was the first sports tour for Lower school and everyone was super excited. After a very quick flight we went straight to hockey training session lead by Shirley McCay MBE, an Ireland women's field hockey international. With some new hockey skills in our pockets we were off on our first adventure, high rope course at Colin Glen. Mr Fowles took the lead and soon we were all 'flying' around the course. A quick bite to eat and on the bus to our first fixture for the weekend, netball against Sullivan Upper. All the teams played extremely well and left with some good game experience. Soon we were back at Colin Glen for the Black Bull run. The rain did not stop these girls, they clocked some fast times around the course. Dripping wet and cold we checked into our hotel. Saturday morning we were woken up with a knock on the door, ready for another FULL day of sport and adventure. First stop of the day was Sullivan Upper, this time hockey was on the agenda. Both schools were ready to play good hockey. After 150 minutes of hockey, we got back on the bus to explore Belfast City Centre.
The afternoon was packed with more netball fixtures against Kings Way Netball club. We were met with fierce competition on court but the teams held their own and progressed with every quarter (9 of them!)
Very tired we were on our way back to the hotel, to get ready for TenPin Bowling. Congratulations to the Coaches for winning the competition, followed closely by the Belfast Bowlers.
Sunday morning some were easily woken up with a knock, where as others needed a bit more encouragment. Eventually we were all up, ready to take on our last day in Belfast. Straight onto the hockey pitch, against the regional finalists Dromore Hockey club. The girls played outstanding hockey against very strong opposition and they held their heads up high after that performance. Next we had a quick bite to eat and were on our way to a netball training session lead by Andy McGee from Northern Ireland Netball. Everyone enjoyed the fun filled session and was ready to go home! After an eventfull journey to the airport, mixed with a sickness bug and delayed flight, we were all glad to feel the wheels touching down back in Edinburgh.
Thank you to all our coaches, Mrs Fourie, Mrs Aiken, Mrs Bargeton and Mr Fowles, for an incredible tour We enjoyed every moment and will never forget our first sports tour!
We were pleased and grateful to have Kate Haywood, an elite swimmer, visit the school and tell our students her inspirational story!
Kate has competed for Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and represented England in the Commonwealth Games. She competed predominantly as a breaststroke swimmer. She was the youngest swimmer to represent England in the Commonwealth Games when she qualified for the 2002 Games in Manchester, where she won a bronze medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay. She retired from competitive swimming following the 2012 Summer Olympics. Our students were inspired by her story of struggle and determination to go back into competing on the world stage after a major hip operation. She has a truly strong mindset and encouraged our students to have a similar mindset of constant growth and development.
Thanks to Kate for visiting us!
Learn,explorenewskills,developtechniquesinafun,friendlyandfocusedenvironment. Developknowledgetacticallythroughconditionedgamesinanexcitingengagingsetting. Thisisanexcellentopportunitytoincreasefitnesslevels,havefunandbechallengedin competitivetasks.Thecampwillgivepupilstheconfidencetocopewellwiththestartofthe newseason.
-
