SPORTS AWARD EVENING 2015- 30th June

Sports Awards Evening 2015

Congleton High School’s 8^th annual Sports Awards Evening took place tonight (Tuesday 30^th June), which celebrated another fantastic year of sport.

The evening started with a delicious three-course meal for the guests, award winners and their families, provided by Year 10 catering students. After the meal the awards ceremony took place, which was an opportunity for CHS to celebrate the sporting success of students both inside and outside of school. Over 120 students were presented with awards including Contribution to Sport, Extra Curricular Awards, Player of the Year, Athlete of the Year and Sports Person of the Year.

Mrs Salt, curriculum team leader for PE, started the evening by saying again what another busy and successful year of sport it has been at Congleton High School. She said that this was “one of the best years for sport with success continuing to grow along with the school’s sporting reputation”, with CHS either winning or finishing runner-up in 25 competitions and tournaments so far this year. Mrs Salt also praised the sporting enrichment opportunities that the school has to offer including last year’s rugby tour to France and the inaugural watersports trip which sets sail on Friday.

Within ten minutes of the awards ceremony starting it was evident why Congleton High’s PE department has so much success in a wide range of sports. Over 30 students were invited to the stage, all of them play for either football academies, compete in sport at county and regional level with some students even setting national times.

The evening’s special guest was British international wheelchair fencer and motivational speaker, Adrian Derbyshire. You will not hear many stories like Adrian’s and students, staff and parents found his talk truly inspirational. He has definitely left an impact on everyone at the awards evening. He visited the school earlier this year to speak to year 9 students and you can read his story here.

Adrian has spoken to 49,000 young people, visiting over 600 schools in 11 different countries over the last year trying to inspire others and he challenges students “to be the best that they can be” and be positive role models for one another whilst following his motto of “Inspire. Believe. Succeed.”Adrian said that it was wonderful to see that this ethos is at Congleton High School.

He said that “nothing is given to you, you have to work for it and you have to make sacrifices, work hard, be determined and disciplined.”

Adrian ended with the following statement, “if I can manage to battle my disability, never mind all my sporting achievements, what are you doing. Just imagine what you can achieve.”

Team of the Year Award

Boys: The boy’s team of the year went to the year 9 and 10 indoor rowing team, who won the Sandbach Schools’ Partnership indoor rowing competition earlier this year and then competed in the Cheshire and Warrington School Games.

Girls: It was difficult to choose the winner of the girls Team of the Year Award this year with a number of teams excelling in netball. However, the award went to the year 9 netball team, who won both the league and South Cheshire Netball tournament for the third successive year.

Daniel Sturridge Rising Star Award

The Daniel Sturridge Rising Star Award is named after former CHS student and Liverpool and England striker, Daniel Sturridge and this year went to another England football international, Amy Rodgers. Amy plays for Everton Academy and is in the under-17 girl’s team; she is also a qualified referee and represented England under-15 ladies last month against the Netherlands. She has also helped the under-16 CHS girl’s team to reach the English Schools Cup Quarter-Final and Cheshire Cup semi-final.

The Lynda Arnold Award

The Lynda Arnold Award, named after a former PE teacher, is for outstanding contribution to school sport. This year the award went to Tom Hampton, who has shown outstanding contribution to school sport throughout his time at CHS. Mr Naylor said that Tom has had a “passion for sport from a young age and over the last seven years he has been committed to sport, Congleton High School and the PE Department.”

From when he first started at Congleton High, Mr Naylor recalled how he stood-out from the other footballers in the year. He is a very talented all-rounder competing for Congleton High in multiple sports including football, rugby, athletics and cricket. Tom also has a passion for skiing and has received two offers to become a ski instructor in both Austria and Canada. A worthy winner of the Lynda Arnold Award.

Mrs Salt concluded the evening by thanking the PE staff and all the other teachers who have contributed to school sport over the last year. I just want to thank Mrs Salt and all the PE staff on behalf of all the students for all their hard work and support they have given over the last 9 months as without them the CHS wouldn’t have had half as much success this year.

Written by Adam Bailey

CHESHIRE ATHLETICS MINOR CHAMPIONSHIPS- 24th June

Further Success for CHS Athletes

It has been a brilliant few weeks for CHS in athletics with impressive performances at the South Cheshire and Cheshire Athletics Championships, which resulted in four athletes representing Cheshire in the Mason Trophy last weekend. The success has continued this week with some superb performances at the Cheshire Minor Athletics Championships. Three CHS students competed in the championships in Warrington against fellow year 7 students from across the county.

Harry Wright finished 4^th in the long jump with a distance of 4.17 metres.

Mikey Lennon finished 5^th in the 800m with a time of 2:34.4 minutes.

Jack Farrall finished 8^th in the 1,500m with a time of 5:07.9 minutes.

Well done boys!

Written by Adam Bailey

MASON TROPHY INTER COUNTIES SCHOOLS' ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS- 20th June

CHS Athletes Represent Cheshire

Jonathan Adderley, Josh Robertson and Beth Jones helped Cheshire finish second overall in the Mason Trophy Inter Counties Schools’ Athletics Championships at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Saturday (20^th June), competing against students from ten other counties. The three CHS students did extremely well just to represent Cheshire in the trophy after impressive performances at the Cheshire Championships last week.

The athletes faced wet conditions but the weather did not seem to bother Jonathan Adderley who finished an impressive second in the discus with a distance of 36.87m, narrowly missing out on first place by just over two metres.

Josh Robertson finished 10^th in the javelin with a distance of 33.94m.

Beth Jones finished 17^th in the 100m with a time of 13.26 seconds. She was also part of Cheshire’s relay team that finished fourth in the 4x100m.

Well done to all three students, who can all be very proud of their achievements.

Written by Adam Bailey

ROUNDERS- July 2015

CHS beat rivals in Rounders

It was a clean sweep of victories for CHS in rounders last week, when they hosted rivals Alsager, with years 7, 8, 9 and 10 all winning.

The year 9 rounders team just missed out on playing in the final of the recent South Cheshire rounders championships, after finishing runners-up in the group stage. Year 7 and 8 will be looking to become South Cheshire champions when they compete in the same tournament next week.

Written by Adam Bailey

CHESHIRE ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS- 13th June

Athletes do CHS Proud

George Johnson, Harper Whitehead, Josh Robertson, Jonathan Adderley, Beth Jones and Cara Cooper all did Congleton High School proud last Saturday (13^th June), when they competed in the Cheshire County Schools’ Championships in Warrington.

Despite all of the six CHS athletes performing brilliantly, there were standout performances for Josh Robertson, Jonathan Adderley and Beth Jones, whose performances earned them a chance to represent Cheshire in the Mason Trophy Inter Counties Schools’ Championships in Birmingham this Saturday.

Josh Robertson not only became Cheshire champion in the javelin for the second successive year but he also recorded his personal best in the discipline with a throw of 40.32m. He has added an extra seven and a half metres to the distance when he won the event last year (32.76m) and Josh will now be looking to throw even further on Saturday. Josh is ranked in the top-20 in the UK for his age group in javelin this year.

Jonathan Adderley was also crowned Cheshire champion in the discus with a personal best of 39.33m (eight and a half metres further then second place) and he will now represent Cheshire in the Mason Trophy.

On the track, Beth Jones will join Josh and Jonathan in Birmingham on Saturday after finishing 2^nd in the girls 100m. Beth won her heat in a time of 13.3 seconds and finished 2nd in the final with a time of 13.2 seconds.

George Johnson finished 2nd in his 100m heat with a time of 12.6 seconds, despite running quicker in the final, he finished 6^th. This is still an incredible achievement to finish 6^th in the whole of Cheshire.

Harper Whitehead also had a top-10 finish on the track, finishing 9^th in the 1,500m, with a personal best time of 4:48.5 minutes. Harper did very well considering he was competing against national athletes.

Year 8 student, Cara Cooper also competed in the javelin and finished 5th.  

Well done to all of the athletes and good luck to Josh, Jonny and Beth in Birmingham on Saturday.

Written by Adam Bailey

WOMEN'S SPORT WEEK- 1st-7th June

Women’s Sport Week

This week (1^st-7^th June) is the inaugural Women’s Sport Week which aims to celebrate, raise awareness and increase the profile of women’s sport.

Amy in her England kit.

It is fitting that this week Congleton High School celebrated the achievements of year 10 student Amy Rodgers after she represented England Under-15 Ladies against the Netherlands last week. Amy received the call-up to the national side having impressed the England coaches with her performances for Everton. She becomes the second year 10 girl to win a cap for the Three Lions with Hollie Massey also representing England on a number of occasions. Hollie also had a memorable experience last week when she played at Old Trafford after a successful season playing for Manchester United’s under-15 girls team.  

Girls sport at CHS has not only increased in participation but also excelled in achievement in recent years. Perhaps the highlight being the under 13 girls football team in May 2013 when they were crowned Premier League champions after winning the Premier League Schools’ Tournament at Anfield. A year later, the team reached the semi-final of the ESFA Cup, narrowly losing to eventual winners of the national competition St. Bede’s in front of an incredible 350 spectators at Congleton Town Football Club. This year the under-16 girls were the only CHS team to reach the last 16 of the ESFA Cup.

There has also been success this year in netball, with CHS dominating the local netball leagues and competitions including the year 8, year 9 and under-18 girls being crowned South Cheshire Netball champions.

There has been further success for girls in athletics, hockey, trampolining, indoor rowing and rounders.

Other individuals to mention who have recorded outstanding achievements in sport are Jenna Baxter in taekwondo and Megan Sheard in athletics and swimming. Jenna, who won the Daniel Sturridge rising star award at last year’s Sports Award Evening, competes internationally for Great Britain in taekwondo. She is definitely someone who girls can take inspiration from through her determined, focussed and driven mentality. Despite studying at CHS’ sixth form, she still finds enough time for her intense training regime, which has seen her become one of the world’s best and a real contender for an Olympic medal in the future. Megan is an all round athlete and also competes nationally in swimming.

Amy, Hollie, Jenna and Megan are just a few of the many girls at CHS who have achieved great things in sport. If you know someone who deserves recognition for a sporting achievement either inside or outside school then email me at 34ch2936@congletonhigh.com.

Written by Adam Bailey

LATEST NEWS- MAY 2015

A Busy Month for PE Department

May was a busy month for CHS’ PE department, but despite a busy exam period with the upper-school years all sitting exams in PE along with BTEC coursework to be marked, the PE staff still found enough time to continue with a busy extra-curricular programme across a wide range of summer sports.

CHS has always seen success in athletics and this year looks to be no different with a number of impressive individual performances this month at the English Schools' Athletics Competition and the South Cheshire Athletics Trials. Notable performances included Cara Cooper (year 8) and Caitlin Green (year 10) in the javelin as well as year 9 student, Josh Robertson, who recorded a personal best in the same discipline. Johnny Adderley is through to the Cheshire Athletics Championships after an impressive throw in the discus event.

On the track there were stand-out performances from Lexi Harrison in the 200m, who achieved a time of 30.25 seconds, and there were silver medals for George Johnson in the 100m and Harper Whitehead over one of the longer distance events, who also qualified for the Cheshire Championships with his time.

There was also success for CHS in trampolining with the intermediate team winning their category whilst the beginner teams finished in a very respectable 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th. Well done to all of CHS’ students who took part.

 

In other news, CHS welcomed 17 teams from Primary Schools across the town in a football tournament for year 3 and year 4 students and it was Black Firs' A-team who won overall, so congratulations to them!

Finally, an incredible 99 students attended Rounders practice earlier this month, with some amazing rounders being scored. Rounders practice is held every Thursday and is open to all years and abilities, with fixtures taking place on a Tuesday for girls. Below is an extra-curricular timetable for anyone wanting to try out for a particular team or just wanting to have fun and stay fit.

Written by Adam Bailey