Tag Archives: summer term

Energetic and enjoyable Sports Day

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By Jamie King, Teacher of PE & Sport

Every year, Sports Day is a wonderful opportunity for all Bedales students in Blocks 3 and 4 to have a go at a traditional style athletics-based competition, following a period of four weeks where athletics has been the main focus of Sports lessons. There are also a series of open events for students in Block 5 and Sixth Form to enter.

Students are divided into four teams by colours to make for some meaningful competition. This year, there were a total of 32 track events and 27 field events completed. The emphasis is on participation, not performance, and it is our aim that all students feel they have the skills and experience to enter at least one individual event. There are also a number of track relays, and this provides the opportunity to compete against the powerful mixed staff quartet, who were victorious this year. 

Teams may enter two athletes per event and each event is scored 8pts to 1pt in order. Students are allowed to wear sports kit in the colour of their team’s name to add to the spectacle. This year, eight Bedales athletes qualifed for Hampshire County Finals and 47 Bedales athletes competed in the South East Hampshire District Finals. Athletics is a great sport for all abilities as we all work to improve our personal best and improve our technique.

The results of this year’s Sports Day are as follows:

  • 1st place – Yellow team, 212 points
  • 2nd place – Blue team, 202 points
  • 3rd place – Green team, 157 points
  • 4th place – Red team, 144 points

Well done to everyone who took part and made the day such a success.

See more photos from Sports Day below:

Photos by Iggy Cake, Block 4

Celebrating the Bedales community

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On Thursday, students and staff came together for Garrett Day, our Summer term community day named after Amy Garrett Badley, one of the key figures in the founding of the school. Amy was a suffragist and the cousin of Millicent Garrett Fawcett and was, we believe, instrumental in ensuring the school was co-educational when almost no other public schools were. United by the theme of a freedom to learn, we created a day of learning away from conventional classroom structures, giving everyone the opportunity to discover and create something new and to enjoy the freedom and liberty we all have to learn in our school.

Activities included writing and recording (suitably edgy) protest music (and accompanying music videos, which you can watch here), building a Blooklet, creating art with chemical indicators, exploring historical events in poetry, investigating and designing an individual fitness programme, animating Newton’s Three Laws, producing art inspired by the outdoors and even creating a new language.

Students in Kirsten McLintock’s group was joined by visiting author Winnie Mi Li, who came to discuss gender-based violence and feminist activism, in honour of Amy Garrett Badley herself. Students were fascinated by Winnie’s own story which can be viewed in her TED talk here, whilst learning how to create characters and write a collective poem. Winnie’s new book, Complicit, is published this week.

The day culminated in an exhibition in the Library, coordinated by Head of Design Alex McNaughton, which showcased everyone’s creative efforts. The exhibition will also be available to view on Parents’ Day to allow parents to share in the students’ achievements. Thank you to everyone who made the day a success.

See more photos from the day below.

Match report: U14 Rounders Tournament, 2 July 2019

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By Chloe Nicklin, Head of Netball

The Block 3s were ready and raring to go for their last fixture of the year. Due to the Wimbledon trip and an injury, Bedales were only able to compete with eight rather than the standard nine rounders players. However, this did not phase them at all. Kamaya Nelson-Clayton stepped in as the U14s’ coach and number one fan due to her injuries, helping Bedales with tactical decision from the side of the pitch.

Out of the five games they played, they won three, drew one and just lost to the hosts Ditcham Park by 1.5 rounders. The girls adapted well to only having eight players, seeing some fantastic fielding performances from all players. Bowling from Millie Harris was extremely consistent, pairing well with backstop Millie Kennedy, who kept calm under the pressure of also doubling up as fourth base. Nicole Simpson and Coco Witheridge worked well sharing the responsibility of second base and just off second fielder, getting many players out with their reliable catches. The deep fielders Lula Goldring, Katie Mansbridge and Mary Whitley performed extremely well with the sloped pitch, making some brilliant catches.

The U14 tournament was closely contested with three teams ending up on the same amount of points by the end of the tournament. In the final results, due to rounders difference, Bedales came a brilliant second place. It was a fantastic afternoon of rounders with Bedales performing to a high standard.

My Coach’s Player of the Tournament was Maya Cressman. Her batting performance was exceptional. Not only can she hit the ball with great power, she was able to find the gaps in the field, enabling her to secure a rounder almost every time she came to bat.