Brentwood Preparatory School Magazine

29 Brentwood School Preparatory Netball After some closely contested matches we finished joint second in the House Netball Competition. Swimming In twenty four years at the school I have never witnessed such a close contest as that which took place at the Senior Boys’ Gala. We shot into a commanding lead early in the competition and it looked like we were going to have an easy victory. Slowly but surely, however, Bayman clawed back the deficit so that by the time the last race was about to start the scores were level. Our Year 6 relay team did not let us down and cruised to an emphatic victory to ensure that we became champions. It was a great team effort but a special mention must be made to Thomas Eastwood who came third in the overall competition and to Elliot Gibson. Not only did Elliot come second in the overall competition, but his brilliant swim in the final leg of the year 5 relay race ensured that we got second place and went into the final race level on points rather than one behind. Very well done to all of our Senior Boy swimmers. A few days later our Senior Girls took to the water. They also performed really creditably, winning both the Year Five and Year Six relay races to eventually finish as runners up overall. A special mention for Ellie Foley who came second in the two length challenge and equal third in the individual competition. Well done girls! The Junior girls continued our dominance of this year’s swimming by producing an impressive display to win their gala. Brooke Skinner swam well to finish as runner up in the one length challenge and the Individual Competition, while Imogen Eastwood came fourth in the one length challenge and won the diving competition. Our individual domination was emphasised with Orla Broderick coming equal third in the Individual competition. As brilliantly as these girls did, their efforts would have counted for little without the strong performances of all of the other team members. Very well done to all of our Junior girls. The Junior boys also swam well but had to be content with a third place finish in their gala. Cooper Booth did well to finish joint second in the Diving Competition, while Beau Lambeth was equal third in the Individual Competition. Perhaps this Gala was best remembered as Mrs Woodford’s last, which prompted a combined staff jump into the pool at the end! Cross Country This year the House Cross Country returned to its original February date. Unfortunately, it proved to be one of the coldest days of the winter, so the children took refuge in the hall and were ferried outside for their races. The weather didn’t seem to bother anyone, however, as we had the most successful of days. The Junior girls were equal first in their event. Brooke Skinner came fifth, Edie Griffiths third and Imogen Eastwood second. The Junior Boys were fourth with Sid Small our top performer in ninth place. The Senior girls won their event. Solari Robert-Tariah came fourth and Olivia Mitchell was runner-up. The Senior boys rounded off an excellent set of results by also winning their event. Louis Turner came seventh, Thomas Eastwood was runner-up while Josh Knightbridge won the event. Our first place in three of the four team races meant that we became Overall House Cross Country Champions. Very well done to everyone who competed with such energy and enthusiasm. General Knowledge Despite answering some very tough questions correctly, as well as being on the end of some rather tough adjudicating decisions, i.e “What was the name of the brothers who both won medals at the Olympics in the Triathlon?” Answer: “Brownlee” “No, Christian names are needed,” our team of Sidney, Jessica, Harry and Ore did their best but finished in fourth place. Well done to you all and especially Sidney, our year three team member, who answered every one of his questions correctly. Cricket Despite some good batting, bowling and fielding we were not strong enough to win either of our two matches and ended up in fourth place in the Senior Competition. After winning our first two matches in the Junior Competition, hopes were high going into our final match. Unfortunately we couldn’t repeat our earlier successes and were defeated. This left us as joint winners of the Junior tournament. Rounders Our B team finished fourth while the A team were narrowly beaten into second place in their competition. Sports Day On a glorious summer’s day the school paraded out to the running track for our annual Sports Day. I knew that we had some strong runners and hopes were high for a competitive performance. How strong we were quickly became apparent as we proceeded to win race after race. Suffice to say that we produced the most emphatic performance and won by the largest margin in living memory, some 64 points! There were numerous outstanding performances - well done! A fantastic team performance with a points total that is likely to remain a record for many years to come. House Athletics Standards Once again our athletic prowess was displayed with another emphatic points victory. Very well done to everyone for trying so hard; we certainly got our reward. House Reading This year our team consisted of Millie Burrell, Emily Davies, Alastair Cooper and Emily Hill. They all read their pieces well and finished in a very close third place. Everyone also enjoyed dressing up for the event which was held on World Book Day. Public Speaking Our team of Araminta Smalley, Charlie Thomas, Ellie Foley and reserve Calum Donovan spoke on a range of subjects ranging from “If I ruled the World” to “If I were a fly on Donald Trump’s wall. All spoke with clarity and conviction and delivered interesting and, at times, humorous talks. Well done to all of our team and the other Year six members of the House who made it through to the audition stage. Barnes Plus Shield It was great to win the plus shield in the Lent Term. This is our first victory for a couple of years; let’s hope that there are more to come! Leavers Goodbye and good luck to all of our leavers. A Matthams July 2017