One hundred and sixty Under 13 boys took part in our annual tournament. They came from 16 schools from as far afield as Suffolk, Worcestershire and Somerset. The sun shone, though it was bitterly cold and the final was played in near darkness.

Congratulations to the following, who have completed their RYA Level 2 sailing award:

Mimi Watts, Emily Acheson-Gray, Ben Massey-Leahy, Andrew Rainbow-Ockwell, Sam Williams, Miles Brandi, Euan McNicholas, Abigail Wylie, Sophie Jephson and Zac Robinson.

On Sunday 7th November the Pinewood equestrian team made the long journey to Rugby with the intention of qualifying for the National Jumping with Style Championships.

There will be a fencing match (foil & sabre) v Beaudesert away, on Thursday 2nd December at 3.45pm.

Congratulations to Ben Ryder, Alex Norris, Jess Tregoning and Honor McFarlane who qualified for the National Championships at the weekend by winning the first class at the Pangbourne Schools Show Jumping competition.

Three fast double clear rounds from Ben, Alex and Jess secured the win, with Jess also qualifying as an individual by winning the class. Ben and Alex were placed 5th and 6th individually, with Jess 4th on her second pony.

In class two Ben also qualified for the championships as an individual by coming 2nd, with Jess 3rd and the team 5th.

A fantastic result from them all!

The jumping with style qualifier takes place on 7^th November where we will also field a strong team so we are hoping to repeat last year's result and qualify again.  With lots of hard work and a little luck it is a possibility!  Fingers crossed.

Congratulations to all 18 children who attended the sailing course at South Cerney and passed their RYA Level 1 exam. Twelve of those children are now working towards Level 2.

A new group of children will have the opportunity to take up sailing next summer.

Well done to our golfers who achieved great results at the Milton Abbey Golf Tournament on Sunday.

Eight schools took part and we finished Runners Up to Castle Court with Sandroyd in third position.  Markus Braadlie was also runner up in the Individual competition.

This young, inexperienced team can be very pleased with their performance.

Congratulations to Ema Lazic on her continuing tennis success.

Ema has recently won a Grade 4 tournament and she came 12th on the AEGON National Junior Girls 12 & Under leader board for the season.  Ema has also represented Wiltshire in the County Cup this summer as part of a 5 girl team and at the moment, is ranked Number 1 in Wiltshire for the 12 and Under age group!

During the summer a team of Pinewood children ventured to Hickstead to take part in the prestigious Schools Show Jumping Competition.

This is a huge event with the top 10 teams going through to the second round in the international arena.

The Pinewood team rode superbly with Philly Hall and Ryan Lockwood just tipping a pole each and Hannah Hirayama (a late substitution) going clear. This was a huge achievement over an enormous course and was good enough to put them through to the 2nd round. Sadly, the pressure of riding in the main ring meant nerves got the better of the girls, but Ryan put in a brave performance to finish on 4 faults.

The team finished a creditable 9th out of 22 teams and should be congratulated on their efforts. 

Congratulations to our athletes, who have been busy achieving great success over the holidays at the MADJA Club Championships.

Lucas Arkwright came 2nd overall in the U11 Boys Tournament, despite being a year young.  He was also awarded a medal for 'Most Improved U11 Athlete'.  The U10's and U11's were split, but he came 1st in 600m, 75m and Vortex, with a throw 7m further than anyone else and 2nd in the Long Jump.

Harriet Eyles won the U9's girls event and James Eyles also won a medal.

Old Pinewoodian Amy Cooper came first in the Senior Girls' Tournament.

Please note that Cumnor House will be on tour again this year and will be bringing hockey and rugby teams to play our U13A and 1st XV over the weekend of 27th/28th November.

The tourists will arrive on Saturday evening and we will play them on Sunday morning.

More details to follow, but do be aware that this is an exeat weekend.

Please click here to read James Siebert's review of another successful sporting year.

On Monday 5^th July Pinewood’s polo team travelled to Papplewick.

We took a team of four, which consisted of Felix Spooner, Sophie Akehurst, Issy Hills and Harry Davies. It was a mini tournament with a Group A and a Group B, each team played two chukkas.

We were in Group A along with Cothill, Papplewick A and Summerfields A. Each game was three-a-side, so Sophie and Issy swapped. Our first match was Summerfields A. We won 4-0 which was a promising start. Next up was Papplewick A and were apparently ‘the team to beat’. We had a close match and beat them 1-0. Next was Cothill who looked like a very good side. We went up 1-0 but then they equalised later on in the chukka, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

Luckily the draw was enough to enable us to win the tournament. Overall it was a fun afternoon, everyone played very well and all the players and spectators enjoyed themselves and Pinewood came back with a large cup!

Harry Davies

JB: Without a doubt Harry Davies was the player of the tournament and he scored all seven Pinewood goals

Congratulations to Gabby Cook who won silver medal in the discus at the IAPS National Athletics Championships in Birmingham today.

This weekend Ryan competed in the Junior National Archery Championships and, despite a lack of practice time shot a personal best to take 3^rd place with a score of 1157, which is 119 higher than he has shot before and has broken the Dorset and Wiltshire County record, which has stood since 2003.  The competition, which sees Juniors from all over Great Britain shooting at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall, was very close with Ryan leading the event through the first 4 of the 12 dozen arrows.  As the event continued, Ryan felt the challenge of so little practice but then put in a strong finish to take 3^rd and the bronze medal.

There was also a team component to the Championships and Ryan was one of 4 juniors who represented Dorset and Wiltshire at County level and South and South West of England at a regional level.

Yet again our young equestrian Pinewoodians did the school proud at the National Schools’ Cross Country Event on Sunday.  This event was well attended and run over a very well built course.  There were many substantial bonus fences that could be attempted and a timed section with a gate to open and close. 

Sadly due to a last minute withdrawal, we could not field a team but Jess Tregoning and Alex Norris represented the school as individuals.  Jess attempted all but two of the bonus fences to finish 6^th and Alex went for the lot but had one stop on the way for 7^th.

Interestingly our ‘team‘ had the best score but with only two members, we were not eligible for the team prize!  A terrific achievement though, and congratulations to Jess.

On Tuesday the Pinewood Polo Squad played a return match v Rendcomb College. Rendcomb had done their home work and cleverly marked Harry Davies, who loved the challenge and gave as good as he got; but Josh was given space to give Rendcomb scoring chances.

Pinewood started with a one goal handicap, which they clawed back in the first chukka. The second chukka went from end to end with both teams popping in goals and Sophie Akehurst destroying one goal post! The hooter went with Rendcomb pressurising the Pinewood goal; Harry broke out and played a long shot which was chased hard by Harry and Felix and with less  than 5 seconds remaining Pinewood scored the winning goal.

Following the match the presentations were made to Harry Davies, Felix Spooner, Sophie Akehurst, Georgie Bethwaite and Issy Hills and this was followed by delicious picnics. It was a wonderfully exciting match and a great way to prepare for next week's Papplewick Tournament.

I am hoping that some new player will take up this exciting sport so that Pinewood continues to produce a team in 2011.

Due to International demands on the track at Birmingham these are now taking place on Monday 5th July rather than Sunday 4th