Departmental Report 2011/12 - King's High

Physical Education
Miss C Gilbert
After the most amazing Olympic Games I can only hope that the girls are as inspired and
energised as we are in the department. I am looking forward to one of our current crop of
sensational students going on to represent Team GB as athlete, coach, physiotherapist,
doctor or in any other role.
The academic study of physical education continues to play a significant role in the
department and we are always striving to provide new and innovative ways of teaching to
help our students to achieve the best grades possible. We have once again managed this
100% of our A2 students gaining an A or A* grade and our AS students gaining 3 As and a
C. This year we have produced a handbook of all the resources available to students
studying the subject, available in the library, and also other very useful resources which they
can use to supplement and enrich their learning. We have also been trialing the use of an
IPAD and we hope to introduce this next year to further enhance our A Level teaching.
Curriculum lessons this year have included a larger fitness component as we have aimed to
increase the general fitness levels of the students in Year 7 – 11. This has gone very well and
is something we will continue to develop. The girls have got used to starting lessons with a
cardiovascular workout and have even enjoyed retesting their fitness levels to look for
improvement. We are always looking for new opportunities or activities which we can
introduce and this year fencing has been offered for the first time in Year 11 games. IT has
been very well received. We have also reviewed and re-written our assessment criteria for
each sport and introduced criteria for sports which did not have their own specific levels.
This should make assessment even more consistent, transparent and easier for pupils to
chart and plan their progress.
As ever, we continue to seek out opportunities to enhance the education we provide. In
September thirteen Year 10 - 12 gifted and talented PE students attended the National
‘Girls Go Gold Conference’ at Edgbaston High School. It was a very interesting and
memorable day. The conference was opened by Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of UK sport.
She was a truly inspirational speaker ensuring all present were motivated to give their best
in whatever they pursue. The girls then attended a serious of lectures in sport science, how
to gain the extra 1% and how to manage your work and sport commitments. Hannah
England, who was crowned World 1500m Silver medalist in August 2011, spoke about how
she managed her work and training. She had just gained a 2:1 from Birmingham University
in biochemistry. She talked about life choices, not sacrifices. It was certainly very interesting
and helpful. The audience was advised on sports nutrition and how to get a sports
scholarship to help you through university. The highlight though undoubtedly was meeting
Dame Kelly Holmes. She spoke of her journey and encouraged everyone to aim high and
‘give it your best shot!’.
At the opposite end of the age spectrum we offered our first Gifted and Talented Sports
Masterclass on a lovely summer’s morning in June at our sports fields. We were delighted to
host gifted and talented sporting girls from six local schools - Moreton Morrell, Coten End,
Warwick Preparatory, Stratford Preparatory, The Croft and Newburgh Primary School. The
morning included tennis, hockey and netball giving the girls the opportunity to be coached

y ex-international sports players, PE staff and coaches who passed on invaluable skills and
expertise.
The extracurricular programme continues to flourish at King’s. Our aim is for everyone to
take part in at least one extra-curricular sporting or exercise based activity and this year we
expanded our programme by introducing martial arts and also entered our first team into
the Public Schools Fencing Championships. The PE department once again organised two
major residential trips; the bonding weekend for Year 7 pupils, and the hockey tour to
Malaysia. 17 girls and 3 staff jetted off in July for a wonderful time, playing 4 matches against
various opposition, a highlight of which was playing on ‘smurf turf’ (blue and pink coloured
Astroturf) at the Azlah Shah Stadium. As well as playing and training we had time to visit
some incredible sites such as the Batu Caves and Forest Research Institute of Malaysia. We
enjoyed a wonderful day white water rafting on the Selangor River. The tour finished with a
beautiful meal in the revolving restaurant at the top of the KL Tower.
The department held its fifth Gymnastics and Dance display. It was a tremendous evening
with a record crowd packed into the gym witnessing the best ever display. Many thanks go
to Dot Monnington and Liz England for all their hard work in running the clubs and
preparing the girls for the evening. This was the last such evening for Dot who retired after
the performance. She has run the gymnastics club for the last 6 years and worked so hard
with the girls to put on such fabulous displays.
This year we once again held our annual ‘Sports Awards Evening’ to recognise the
achievements of some of our most talented sportswomen and teams. Our special guest was
Bryan Steele. Bryan was a track cyclist and is a 4 time Olympian, attending the games in
1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. He has won two Olympic Bronze medals and one Olympic
Sliver. He gave a compelling and inspirational talk before presenting girls with their colours
and other special awards.
March saw us once again hold inter form competitions for Year 7 - 10 students. Many
turned up on Saturday mornings to compete with great spirit and determination in hockey
and netball. The matches were all keenly contested and well supported by staff and parents.
However, the fine weather we had in March turned to rain in June and July, and for the first
time in my memory Field Day had to be cancelled twice much to everyone’s frustration.
One day that did escape the rain was when two members of staff and eight girls visited the
Wimbledon Tennis Championships on Thursday 5 th July. The sun shone and we saw some
wonderful tennis on court number one, the outside courts and ‘Henman Hill’.
King’s High continues to achieve outstanding sporting success, both locally and nationally
and this year was no exception. We continue to play friendly matches on Saturday
mornings and during midweek, trying to incorporate as many teams and girls as possible.
Congratulations to all the girls who have represented the school in any sports. They always
compete with great determination and sportsmanship.
King’s High have once again competed strongly in both hockey and water polo. The U13
and U16 Hockey Teams were both Midlands Champions and went on to compete in the
National Hockey Finals, an outstanding double for King’s. Our U18 water polo team also
backed up their Gold medal of 2011with Silver this year at the National Championships.

Below is a summary of our results:
Netball:
U12s
U13s
U14s
U15s
U19s
Hockey
U12s
U13s
U14s
U15s
U16s
County Tournament Winners
Winners of the Loughborough Festival of Sport
Runners-up in the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire School Games
County Tournament Runners-up
Finished 3 rd at the Loughborough Festival of Sport
County Champions
Coventry, Warwickshire & Solihull Tournament
County Runners-up
County Tournament Winners
Finished 3 rd in the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull Tournament
County Runners-up
County 11 a-side Tournament Winners
County Mini Hockey Champions
Midlands Mini Hockey Champions - National Finalists
Runners up in the Bromsgrove School Invitational Tournament
Rugby Super Sixes Champions
Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Schools Games Champions
County Runners-up
Midlands Zone Winners
Midlands Finalists
County Champions
County Tournament Winners Indoor and Outdoor
Midlands Zone Winners – Qualified for Midlands Finals Indoor and Outdoor
Midlands Hockey Finals Champions – National Finalists
Clay Pigeon Shooting
In February King's High entered two teams in the Rugby School challenge competition and
came first and second thereby successfully defending their win from last year. March saw
the girls in action again in the Warwick School challenge competition and King’s came
second and third in the team event, only one point behind the winners. In the individual
event King's High shooters Amy Borland and India Phillips were first and third respectively.
At the end of April King's High entered two teams in the British Schools Nationals
competition at E.J. Churchill’s shooting ground near High Wycombe and came third and
fourth, narrowly missing second by 2 points. In the individual competition Aimee
Besant was placed second, one point behind the winner. Many thanks to Mr Pardoe for all
his time and boundless energy and providing the girls with this fantastic opportunity.
Water polo
Congratulations to our U18 water polo team who took a Silver medal at the English Schools
Swimming Association National Water Polo Finals after losing only one match in the
tournament. It was a fabulous effort from the whole team which reflected all the hard work
and effort they put in.
The U14 team is improving steadily and did well to come 4 th in the country.

At an individual level Rhianne Oscroft has gone from strength to strength and as well as her
GB commitments she regularly competes in National League. Megan Clarke has had an
injured shoulder which has curtailed her ability to compete, but together with Emma
Hutchinson and Olivia Carter, has been training as part of the GB squad.
Swimming
What a brilliant twelve months the swim teams have had. There have been the usual
successes in galas with Warwick School and Warwick Prep but there have also been great
triumphs in bigger competitions.
In May at the Stowe Invitational Relay Competition we won 4 of the 6 trophies against very
strong competition from Stowe, Marlborough College, Bromsgrove, Oundle, Bedford and
Stafford: the U14 freestyle and medley the U16 medley and the U18 medley.
The ESSA qualifying competition, for the first time, was held much earlier in the year in
September. The U14, U16 and U18 teams had starts, turns and take-over coaching from
Adam Whitehead a few weeks before travelling to Thomas Telford School for the
competition where everyone swam really well and the U16 medley team were Midlands
Champions again and made the finals, qualifying 9 th nationally. On 26 th November the team
travelled to Southampton for the finals where there are two heats to determine the top 8
teams for the final “final”. Alice Quinn, Maddie Spalding, Emma Hutchinson and Jenny
Chapman really upped their game and took two seconds off their previous time and made it
into the final. Unfortunately they drew an outside lane and were disappointed with their 8 th
place finish. However, this did put them 8 th out of almost 200 teams entered. The U14
freestyle team was placed 2 nd , the U16 freestyle 3 rd and the U18 freestyle 3 rd in the West
Midlands.
In the Warwick 50s once again the Year 7 and 8 teams successfully retained the overall
trophy,.
In the Warwick 100s the U14, U16 and U18 teams retained their trophies and the overall
girls shield.
Another recent success was in the prestigious Bromsgrove Invitational Relay Gala where the
U13 team won the freestyle and medley shield.
At October half term 9 girls and 13 boys travelled to Mallorca for the first ever Swim Camp.
We stayed in lovely hotel with great food for a week. The two 2 hour training sessions
every day were strenuous though very rewarding. The swim camp also provided the
stepping stone for those hoping to swim the Channel this summer.
At an individual level Emily Graham and Maddie Spalding have been training very hard to
achieve National and Olympic qualifying times. Both have achieved their aims and Emily
competed in the 50m freestyle at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in February and Maddie
competed at Sheffield in the middle of her GCSE exams in June.
Maddie has also retained her title of Warwickshire 50m Breaststroke Champion.
Channel Swim

An impressive end to the year saw a team of six girls swimming the channel on 4 th July in an
impressive time of 12 hours and 59 minutes. Their training started at the swim camp in
October and they clocked up hundreds of miles in training. Their first outdoor swim was in
a water temperature of 11 0 C. They swam the Channel as a relay taking turns of one hour.
All of them did two one hour stints with the exception of Alice who had to do three. The
last time a girl’s school team did this was in the 1960s. It was a brilliant experience for them
all and they made us all very proud.
The team members were:
Evie Gill (Captain)
Rhianne Oscroft
Alice Quinn
Hope O’Dwyer
Laura Ewell
Sophia Cockell.
None of the swimming and water polo would be possible without the use of Warwick
School pool and the help, encouragement, coaching and masses of time given by Mr Nield
and the time and dedication of Mrs Sherren.
Cross Country Championships
Two Year 7 students and one Year 8 took part in the Warwickshire Cross Country
Championships at Hatton Country World on January 14 th . In the Junior Girls competition
Year 8 Suki Scholes competed against over 70 Year 8 & 9 pupils and finished a very
creditable 16 th overall. In the Minor Girls competition for Year 7 students, Sophia Daenen
finished in 4 th place and Molly Gibbins as runner-up out of over 50 girls, a fabulous
achievement.
Real Tennis
In February, the School entered two real tennis players to compete in the Lady Hamilton
Cup at the Moreton Morrell Real Tennis Club. Phillippa Twohig-Howell fought her way
determinedly through to the final, to triumph 6-2 over a senior and more experienced
opponent. In the National Public Schools Doubles Championships exceptionally 6 pairs
being made up from Warwick School and King’s High pupils, qualified to play. Our teams all
played with great enthusiasm and finished with some excellent results.
Fencing
3 Girls from King’s High took part in the Public Schools Fencing Championships at Crystal
Palace National Sports Centre. Phillippa Twohig-Howell competed in the senior Epee and
Zoe Freeman in the girls senior Foil and girls senior Epee. Alice Moffat finished 2nd (out of
25 girls) in the Junior Girls Sabre.
Lizzie Moffat won the U12 girls Sabre at the 2012 British Youth Championship held in
Sheffield in April. Her sister Alice came 6 th in the U16 girls Sabre.
Rounders
Year 7 Team Played 5 Won 5
Year 8 Team Played 5 Won 5
Year 9 Team Played 2 Won 1 Lost 1
Year 10 Team Played 1 Won 1

Tennis
The 101 st Midlands Girls’ Schools Lawn Tennis Tournament
The 1 st Couple of Agatha and Charlotte Poole won 3 matches and lost 3 matches to finish
3 rd in their section and just miss out on the semi-finals.
The 2 nd Couple of Megan Whitwell and Imogen Hamilton won 3 matches and lost just 2 to
also finish 3 rd in the section and narrowly missed out on the semi-finals.
Tennis Matches
U12s Played 3 Won 3
U13 friendly matches Played 3 Won 3
U13 Aegon League Played 4 Won 3 Lost 1
U14s Played 5 Won 4 Drew 1
U15 friendly matches Played 1 Lost 1
U15 Aegon League Played 4 Won 2 Lost 2
Athletics
Combined Events
At the County Combined Events Athletics Championships on May 3 rd the junior girls
finished 2 nd overall. (Felicity Bee 2 nd , Martha Hayes 7 th and Aurelia Marcus 11 th out of 50
girls). The minor girls finished 3 rd overall. (Sophia Daenen 4 th , Holly Bolger 15 th and Bella
Carter 19 th out of over 50 girls). Felicity went on to be selected to represent Warwickshire
at the Inter County Combined events, achieving several personal bests throughout the
competition.
Track and Field Cup
Both the junior and intermediate girls athletics teams became county champions at the
Track and Field Championships on May 9 th in convincing style. They battled the elements
and the other athletes to triumph.
The junior girls (Year 7 & 8) Scored 298 Points, 55 points ahead of nearest rivals Alcester
Grammar School and the intermediate girls scored a very impressive 307 points to beat
nearest rivals Rugby School by an emphatic 59 points.
This meant both teams reached the Midlands Finals. All of the girls acquitted themselves
superbly. The junior team improved their points score from the previous round by 17
points to finish an impressive 5 th overall, just 4 points off 2 nd place. Girls who scored over
30 points individually were Imogen Reed, Suki Scholes, Molly Gibbins, Holly Smith, Amy
Collett, Tammy Burrows and Sophie Harrington. The inter girls improved their
performance from the previous round by an incredible 32 points and produced the best
performance ever of a King’s team in this competition finishing 3 rd in the Midlands, just 14
points from 1 st place. There were too many stand-out performances to mention everyone,
but the top points scoring athletes were Megan Moran, Felicity Bee, Martha Hayes and Xena
Dhillon. Congratulations to everyone involved.
Mid Warwickshire Championships.
Year 7 Overall Champions and Relay runners up.
Year 8 3 rd Overall and Relay Champions.
Year 9 Overall Champions and Relay Champions
Year 10 Overall Runners up and Relay Runners up

11 girls were selected to compete for Mid-Warwickshire at the County Championships in
June, with a number of personal best times and distances being recorded on the day. As a
result of their performances, Polly Lapage-Norris, Megan Moran, Felicity Bee, Aurelia
Marcus and Martha Hayes were all selected to represent Warwickshire at the Mason
Trophy on the 23 rd June and Felicity went on to be selected to compete at the English
School’s Championships in Gateshead on July 6 th . She finished an incredible 5 th in the
Country in the junior girls javelin.
I would also like to congratulate a few other individuals. Emma Loveridge (Year 9) and her
brother Rob (Warwick School) have been selected for the RYA National Youth Transition
squad in their 29er and competed in the European and World Championships this summer.
Congratulations should also be afforded to Sophie Glanfield and Katie Stanislas who both
represented Warwickshire at Cricket.
The following girls have all been selected to attend Junior Regional Performance Centres for
Hockey: U13 – Holly Smith; U15 – Sally Rankin; U16 – Martha Hayes; U17 – Alice Reed;
Agatha Poole; Philippa Day; Katherine Hellier; Sophie Oates; U18 – Lucy Morley; Polly
Lapage-Norris and Jane Wackett. Well done to all of these players.
Next year as we welcome Mr David Bryce into the department to cover for the Maternity
leave of his wife Mrs Kirstin Bryce: another new dimension for our exciting multi-faceted,
energetic and inspiring department.
Sports Awards Evening May 2012
U13 Hockey Squad – Midlands Champions and
National Finalists
U16 Hockey Squad – Midlands Champions
and National Finalists
U18 Water polo Squad – National
Silver Medalists

Malaysia Hockey Tour July 2012
Gym & Dance Display