Congratulations to Pinewood's 1st Pair of Milo and Harry Brooks who won the Severnside Tennis Tournament at Beaudesert yesterday.

The boys played consistently in their group and managed to come out unbeaten, setting up a final against Beaudesert (whom we played and lost heavily to just last week). They started strongly and with real desire, looking hungry and as if they had a point to prove; Beaudesert were not expecting this and started to look a little wobbly. Milo and Harry sensed this and started to really push home their early advantage, coming out 6 – 3 winners in the end.

This was a fantastic achievement as there were some very good players present.

Please click here to read James Siebert's report on the past week.

Huntersfield Equestrian Centre is running a riding camp over Half-Term.

For full details, please click on the image below:

The Pinewood squad of 15 travelled to Brockhurst with trepidation, possibly remembering their last visit there when we didn’t win a bout. Brockhurst has a great reputation for the strength and depth of their judo and they had about thirty fighters waiting for us, including a couple of giants, one with a blue belt – luckily he sat out the competition as we had nobody who matched his size!

The Pinewood squad all had one bout (it was a shame that a number of Brockhurst children fought against children from their own school instead of giving their visitors a second bout) and we did really well to win five bouts as well and having one or two that went to the wire including Reuben Arkwright’s fight that went to a draw. Our five winners were: George Tregoning (Captain), Sam Basham, Max Tite, Ned Corfield and Lucas Arkwright. The rest of the team: Howard Hawkes, Max Fraser, Jacob Robinson, Ollie Beckett, Tom May, Harry Piggott, Dominic Kelly, Joshua Basham and Derry Carter Brennan fought gamely and learnt a lot from the experience.

JB

If any Pinewood pupils in Years 4-8 would like to compete at the Wiltshire County Athletics AA Championships on Sunday 13th May at Tidworth Oval, entries may be taken on the day.

Competitors must either have been born in Wiltshire, or have been a resident of the county for not less than 9 months.  

For more details, please click here to go to their website.

Pinewood pupils, James and Harriet Eyles and Lucas Arkwright achieved great success for Marlborough and District Junior Athletics Club (MADJA), competing in the first Wessex League event of the season.

The MADJA boys won the U13, U15 (equal) and the U17 categories and the girls QuadKids Team came second, with 1225 points, just behind Andover.

James Eyles starred for the U13 boys A team, claiming first place in both the shot (6.12m) and the discus (16.57m), having only stepped into the shot at the last minute.

Harriet Eyles won the U11 girls QuadKids individual event coming first in a field of 20.  She ran her 75m sprint in 12.3 secs, recorded a long-jump of 2.84m, ran her 600m in 2.18m and threw the vortex 22.18m.

Lucas Arkwright competed in the U13 boys A team in the 800m, coming second, despite being a year young.  He also jumped well in the long-jump finishing first for the B team.

If any Pinewood pupils (in Years 4-8) would like to compete at the Wiltshire County Athletics AA Championships on Sunday 13th May at Tidworth Oval, entries may be taken on the day.  Competitors must either have been born in Wiltshire, or have been a resident of the county for not less than 9 months.  For more details, please click here to go to their website.

We will meet on the terrace in front of the school from 1.45 pm and there will be a shotgun start just after 2 pm.

There is room for 18 pairs (2 per hole) and therefore I will accept entries on a first-come-first-served basis.  The format will be a foursomes stableford competition over nine holes finishing with tea and prize giving by the cricket pavilion at approximately 4 pm.

All standards are welcome so do please come and support this inaugural event.  The deadline for entries is Friday, 18th May.

Please email Colin Acheson-Gray as soon as possible on colinacheson-gray@pinewoodschool.co.uk to secure your place.

Please click here to download the results from the event.

The first ever inter-schools show jumping competition run by Pinewood on Saturday 31st March was a huge success with bumper entries and fantastic results from the Pinewoodians themselves. With 32 schools taking part competition was very strong, but Pinewood rose to the occasion qualifying  two teams and two individual riders for the National Championships to be held in October.

In the 70cm mini class Jess Tregoning and Honor McFarlane were 1st and 2nd individually and the team of Honor McFarlane, Jess Tregoning and Frank Meehan came 2nd to guarantee themselves a place in the final. The B team of Wanda Criswell, Chloe McGregorand Amelia Heard all rode well and gained valuable experience for the future.

The hotly contested Novice class brought success to Alex Norris, Ben Ryder, Jess Tregoning and Ryan Lockwood with another 2nd place and another qualification for the championships.  However, success went to their heads and the same team could not quite keep their focus in the intermediate class with a couple of errors dropping them to 4th place. In the Novice class the team of Honor McFarlane, Frank Meehan, Jess Tregoning andWanda Criswell came a creditable 5th with Jess on Joey B and Ryan on Buzz coming 5th and 6th respectively.

There were some new Pinewood faces in the warm up class showing promise for the future; in particular Amelia Heard, who was 6th in her first ever jumping competition.  Congratulations to all our riders!

This competition could not have taken place, however, without all the help and support from a huge band of volunteers.  My biggest thanks must go to Lucinda McFarlane who was our Secretary.  She not only put in immensely long hours beforehand, dealing with huge entries, but was on the showground for over 12 hours keeping the competition running smoothly.  The day ran to time and we had many congratulations from other schools on our efficiency.

My thanks must also go to Jim Bischoff, who was press ganged into commentating and did the most fantastic job, to Mark Smith for his great scoring and to Mr Hoyland who took on the role of car park supervisor like a pro and now knows all there is to know about parking  horse boxes and trailers! Thank you to James Siebert who spent the afternoon learning about a new sport in a very hands-on way and was there to the bitter end taking down the marquee.  Thank you too to all the other helpers, too numerous to mention individually, who gave up their time to steward, the ‘organising committee’ including Natascha Ryder, Arabella Tregoning and Nicki Lockwood and in particular to all the Pinewood children who made up the arena party.

After such a successful day let us hope the Pinewood School show jumping competition now becomes an annual event in the Pinewood calendar.

Mel Norris 

Please click here to download the results from the event.

Please note that the tennis fixtures for the Summer Term do not appear in the hard copy of the school calendar, so please keep an eye on the website Fixtures List for the latest information on tennis matches.

Well done to our Under 9 Cross Country team on a wonderful set of results at the Rendcomb Junior School Cross Country meeting.  The course was over very challenging terrain and it was long (1850m). Competing against 5 other schools (Rendcomb JS, Berkhampstead, St Edward's Cheltenham, Hatherop and Westonbirt), the Pinewood team came 1st overall.

Notable individual results were as follows (each school put forward teams of 8):

Tom Gardener - 2nd overall (and 2nd boy)

Flora Fletcher - 8th overall (and 2nd girl)

George Knee - 10th

Rafferty Simpson - 11th

Ben Skey - 14th

Peyton Lloyd - 17th

This match was held in the village hall. Our first foil team met to do battle with the top Prior Park team in their 2nd match of the year. The team of Lucas Prichard Jones, Sydney Jones and Meredith Powell-Turner were not a strong team, but one selected to give our senior group fencers the opportunity to compete. Max Tite was not available, so we were at the mercy of a strong Prior Park team.

Prior Park were ruthless and efficient as they swept aside our inexperienced side that battled for every point, but were overcome 9-0 despite their very best efforts.

Our second team were without any experienced fencers. With less than two terms’ fencing under their belts, the team were facing opposition with a great deal of match experience. One again, Prior Park dominated and totally overwhelmed our young side 15-0

The result aside, the teams conducted themselves well and fought hard for each point. Their time will come.  This was organised to give our fencers match experience, rather than selecting the top performers.

Shaun Garley - Coach

Another early start for the Pinewood Riders on Sunday and this time in the pouring rain too!  The team of Frank Meehan, Sophie Pratt, Wanda Criswell and Honor McFarlane made a fantastic start to the competition in Class 1 of the St Mary’s Calne Inter-Schools Show Jumping, they all produced perfect double clear rounds, which meant they were 2nd as a team and Honor was also 8th as an individual.  We did not have a team for Class 2, but both Frank and Honor were entered as individuals and both knew they had to have really fast rounds to have a chance of being in the places.  They both jumped fantastic clear 1st rounds and in the jump off they both turned up the speed determined for a place, sadly Frank just tipped a pole and Honor put in such a handbrake turn her pony could not quite make the jump, but it was the right thing to do for them both when the competition was so strong. 

Well done to them all for a great win and some really good riding.

Each team was split into two groups of four and each group would take it in turns to shoot 3 arrows at 2 targets to get the most points.

Pinewood 1 was first up on the firing line and finished the round with an impressive 20 points. Then Prior 1 took their first round, eager to hit as much gold as they could. Up next was Pinewood 2, who scored 9 points and so it went on for 2 more nail biting rounds, until we discovered the total score for Pinewood 1: 64 points, compared to Prior 1's total of 39. At this point Pinewood and Prior 2 were shaking so much they could hardly pull the string back!

As the scores were collected and the totals added, everyone held their breath until the Prior coach announced the final scores:

Prior Park: 101

Pinewood: 103

Joe Salter (Year 7)

Please note that from next term all Prep School boys will be required to have a pair of cricket whites (trousers) and an optional cream cricket jumper as part of their sports kit.

Carol has a good supply of cricket trousers and jumpers in the school shop.

The shop will be closed for the week of Monday 12th March, but will be open all day on Monday 19th March.

A very wet, snowy, windy and foul day dawned as we set forth to Malvern under grey clouds.  That said, the teams were in good form and, on arrival, checked in and walked the courses.  The Pinewood supporters’ crowd was large on a day that turned clear, if a bit brisk for spectating. My grateful thanks to James Siebert who supported and acted as finish line liaison!  Special mention to Mimi Watts, Libby Rowe and Reuben Arkwright on their 4-5 years of representing the Pinewood Cross Country teams in all weathers! (for the final time today). 

The four races were spread over the day as follows:

Girls Under 11

Christa Cripwell came a fantastic 5th out of 120 girls.  The support from the rest of the team was excellent, with some Year 4 girls getting a chance to run for the school.

Boys Under 11 

Some good positions for the boys, who all finished in the top 50.  All the boys ran hard on the hilly course including some Year 4s – well done.

Girls Under 13

This saw the girls all getting in the top 60 out of 160 runners, which was our best team effort for some years!  Jess Tregoning came a very creditable 17th.

Boys Under 13 

This was a huge effort for the boys on a long and hard, hilly course.  All four gave of their utmost – well done!

AC

James Siebert will be holding a cricket coaching camp for girls and boys in Years 3-8 on 11th, 12th & 13th April.

For full details and an application form, please click here.

Pinewood is hosting our first ever inter-schools team equestrian event at the Summerhouse Equestrian Centre on Saturday 31st March. This will be a NSEA Qualifier for the Schools’ Team Show Jumping Championships and we very much hope that you will either be able to compete at the event or come along and support your friends who are competing.

For full details of the event, please click here.

To download a booking form, please click here.

Several riders made the long journey to Sparsholt College over half-term to compete in the NSEA show jumping competition.  It was lovely to see new team member Frank Meehan doing well with a fast double clear in class 1.  He proved a valuable member of the team in class 2, together with Jess Tregoning, Ben Ryder and Alex Norris.  Despite some children riding new ponies the team came 3rd, just missing out on qualification, and Jess jumped a fast clear on her old pony Joey to take 5th individually.

For the first time Pinewood had a team in the 90cm class and even though we were one team member short we came a creditable 6th.

This was a really solid start to 2012 - well done to all our riders.

Melanie Norris

We are once again collecting these vouchers from Sainsbury's, which provide the school with fantastic new sports equipment.

There will be collection boxes in the Hall and in Pre-Prep (please do not put other supermarket vouchers in there as they have to be sorted by hand!)

Please help us to collect as many vouchers as possible, last year we managed to collect over 11,000 vouchers across the Pre-Prep and Prep, which enabled us to "buy" the following equipment:

Playground football goals, 40 x bean bags, 25 x junior hockey sticks, 1 x Mercian hockey goal keeper kit, 3 x stop watches, 10 x playground multi footballs, 24 x hockey balls, 20 x training bibs.

This was the first time we had been to this meeting and all the Pinewood pupils really enjoyed the experience, despite it being quite tough and wet!  The common was muddy and a bit squelchy, but most of our runners managed to get round.

All the courses were flat and quite fast.  The pupils in all age groups acquitted themselves well and managed to improve on some individual performances. It was great to see members of Year 3 and 4 in both Junior races doing so well - all good experience for them and the future!

Results:

3^rd placed team in the Junior Boys U12 race

3^rd place team in the Senior Girls  U14 race

1^st individual in the Junior Boys U12 race - Stirling Calvert!

Stirling also broke a course record for U12 boys.

AC

U12 Boys

1^st Cheam

2^nd St Hugh’s

3^rd Pinewood

U12 Girls

1^st Cheam

2^nd Beaudesert

3^rd St Hugh’s

U14 Girls

1^st  Beaudesert

2^nd Abberley

3^rd Pinewood

U14 Boys

1^st Farleigh

2^nd St Hugh’s

3^rd Cheam

Half Price Shooting Lessons available Mon-Fri between Wed 1st February and Fri 31st March 2012.

One hour lesson for a maximum of 3 people (adult and/or juniors) includes all safety equipment and use of gun if required.

Discount applies to lessons booked and taken during this period. Clays and cartridges not included.

For prices and more information, please visit our website:

http://www.barburyshootingschool.com/pdf/Half_priceFeb12.pdf

Please call 07872 666154 to make a booking or email enquiries@barburyshoot.com.

16 boys travelled to compete in a match v Horris Hill, they ranged from Year 3 to Year 8 and they were all keen on their Judo. George Tregoning captained the team and after the first round Pinewood led 11-6, so the pairings were mixed around and eventually we ran out winners 18-17. Every boy gave one hundred percent and there were some incredibly skilful throws especially Sam Basham’s final effort. For a number of the children it was their first every contest and the Pinewood children certainly did themselves proud. Our thanks go to Martin Small for running such an excellent competition.

The team consisted of: George Tregoning, Lucas Arkwright,  Ned Corfield, Reuben Arkwright, Howard Hawkes, Tommy Birch, William Taylor, Jacob Robinson, Samuel Basham, Max Fraser, Patrick Hannon, Max Tite, Ollie Beckett, Tom May, Harry Piggott and Derry Carter Brennan.

JB

House Competition Results

1st - Melchet

2nd - Motcombe

3rd - Postbridge

4th - Farnborough

Cup awarded for Winning House  - Melchet

Sailing lessons will restart in the Summer Term. This has been a very successful activity in the past, with Pinewood pupils really enjoying the course and learning a lot in the process.

Please let Mr Bischoff know as soon as you can if you would like your child to have lessons at the South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre. The lessons will be on six Thursdays (during the normal Thursday afternoon activities session) in the Summer term, leaving Pinewood at 3.05pm and arriving back at 6.00pm.

We need six children to make up a group and then the cost per child will be £92 for the six 2 hour lessons (if we don’t get six children the price will increase pro-rata). Lessons are available at Stage 1, 2 or 3.

Contact: jimbischoff@pinewoodschool.co.uk

Please note that the U11B netball match v Beaudesert is now at HOME and the U10A & B matches at Beaudesert will start at 2.15pm.

Pinewood is holding a National Schools Equestrian Association Show Jumping competition on March 31st 2012 at Summerhouse Equestrian Centre in Gloucestershire.  This will be a prestigious affair with qualifying events for the National Championships later in the year.

We already have a number of sponsors, but if any businesses are willing to sponsor another class we still have space.  There will be a great opportunity  to advertise in our programme and we will ensure plenty of announcements on the day. Advertising banners can also be accommodated.  We are hoping to attract many competitors from schools, both locally and from further afield.

We will also be looking for volunteers on the day so please put the date in your diaries.  It should be a fun day out with lots of opportunity to support the Pinewood Equestrian Team!

For further information on sponsorship, volunteering or if you would like to compete at the event, please email Melanie Norris at mellors.norris@btinternet.com

Please take the time to read the following from the Director of Sport regarding Games and PE clothing requirements:

Please could I ask you all to check that your child has the correct Games and PE clothing and that it is clearly marked. This allows for each child to get the full benefits and enjoyment out of their sessions as it minimizes lost time in the changing rooms before and after Games and PE sessions. The key areas are as follows: