Pupils at Heavers Farm have done extraordinarily well in the many competitions we have entered this term. We went from having a slow start to being back for the new half-term to the children excelling at the latter end of the term. We entered many competitions, from tag rugby, netball, football, and athletics.
During their PE lessons, the children learned many skills to help them perform at their best during these competitions. Many year groups worked on improving their sport skills and this allowed them to show their best performances to our sports coaches who selected them to represent the school and go to these competitions.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the all of the children for taking part and to their parents and carers for supporting them participate in these competitions and represent the school. We couldn’t be so successful without all of you.
Tag Rugby
During the first half-term, Year 5 and 6 pupils worked on their tag rugby skills. This allowed us to enter them into the Croydon Schools Tag Rugby competition at Trinity School. The children fought very hard and tried their best! Although they only lost two games out of the five played, Heavers unfortunately did not qualify for the finals. The qualification was tough and won by one of the teams we had lost to.
The children that participated learned a lot of key skills, not just from each other, but also from the teams they played against. This is helping them to further develop their key tag rugby skills, which they can use later on, or when participating in this competition again next year, either for Heavers or at their secondary schools.
Netball
This year, lots of schools in the Croydon area have decided to come together to create a netball league. Heavers made the decision early on in the year to enter our girls into this league, we will add our boys later in the year. We now have and A and B team as our PE coaches and Ms Snedden have started to help all of our girls become the best netball players they can be.
Last week saw our girls play their first game against a very good Park Hill side. The girls played amazingly well and worked hard as a team to score lots of goals and show great teamwork against Park Hill. This game didn’t go our way, but it was a great show of skills from our team.
After playing against Park Hill, this week saw the girls play against Purley Oaks. The girls put on an amazing display and secured their first win of the season! This has showed us that, after a nervous start, the girls are now ready to continue performing at a great level of netball, the team and the coaches look forward to the upcoming games!
Football
This term has seen our mixed team come up against very strong opposition in the Croydon Schools Football League. The children in the team have been trying their best to work hard in training and are always looking to improve game after game.
After a shaky start to the season, our mixed team finally got their first points of the season with a draw against Robert Fitzroy Academy. Some fans are questioning if the referee made the right decision not to award Heavers Farm a goal which to many (or most) looked like the ball crossed the line. Without VAR in our game, it was very hard for the referee to make a decision and we don’t blame him. We hope this result will help our team push on for the rest of the season. This week sees them play in the second round of the Croydon Schools Cup vs. Woodcote.
As for our girls football team, they are yet to kick off their season but have played many friendlies, as well as one Palace For Life competition and look strong and ready for the season to begin.
Palace For Life Football
Over the last two weeks, both of our mixed and girls team were entered into Palace For Life football competitions. We have played these contests for years and competition is always fierce.
The girls team had an extraordinary tournament, scoring lots of goals and performing at a top level. Unfortunately, purely due to goal difference, the girls did not qualify for the finals but did go unbeaten the whole tournament. This ended with them finishing second in their group, short of four goals, due to one draw.
The mixed team had a difficult competition, but learned good lessons from this contest and found their feet. This will help them with the rest of their season in the league.
Sportshall Athletics
Last week saw us enter into the Croydon SSP Sportshall Athletics competition. This term, both Years 5 and 6 have been working on improving and learning new indoor athletic skills. A big well done to our PE coaches, as well as class teachers and support staff, who have helped the children during their PE lessons and built some incredible skills. Another shoutout goes to Fred and his team who have started an athletics club at Heavers Farm and taught some of our athletes some high-level skills.
Our pupils performed to the best of their abilities during this competition, which saw us rack up points for both our track and field events. The children that participated enjoy a warm moment from the rest of their peers after achieving first place in the qualifiers! Special mention was given to the Heavers girls, who racked up an unbelievable number of points and carried the team into first place.
This has now seen us progress into the finals, which will be held in the new term. The children have continued working on their indoor athletics skills, with the high hope of achieving first place overall in the whole of Croydon. Let’s go Heavers!
