St Mary's Ski Trip 2012
A blog of this year's ski trip may be viewed by clicking here.
English Schools Water Polo Champions
Leigh St Mary's Catholic High School's Girls 16 and under Water Polo team travelled to Walsall on Sunday 15th May to compete in the English Schools Swimming Association Water Polo Championships. St Mary's were playing against Bedford Modern( Bedford), Allewyn's (London)and Manchester High School for Girls in a round robin competition.
The first match was against Manchester, St Mary's took a 3:0 lead but Manchester fought back to draw 5 : 5.
The second match was against Alleyns which St Mary's won 6:4.
Manchester then lost to Bedford Modern 3:1, leaving St Mary's the challenge of beating Bedford to win the championship.
The girls then played the best water polo of the Championship in a devastating display of attacking water polo. St Mary's were 7:0 up before Bedford knew what had hit them. St Mary's went on to win 9:2 and were crowned English Schools Water Polo Champions.
Josephine Costello was top goalscorer in the championship with 9 goals.
The team was from Left to Right in the picture: Bethan Grimes, Lucy Childs, Honor Grimes, Josephine Costello (Capt), Lucy Matthews, Abigail Barton, Grace Morley, Grace Rowland, Beth Jackson, Hannah Armstrong, and Ellie Chadwick
St Mary's are supported by Tyldesley Swimming and Water Polo Club under a school link programme which has been funded by Swim North West and British Gas.
TAG RUGBY
Year 7 Girls Festival a huge success!
Leigh Centurions hosted the inaugural Year 7 Girls Tag Festival as a curtain raiser to their Northern Rail Cup fixture against Sheffield on Sunday 20th February.
The festival was attended by pupils and teachers from Bedford High, Golborne High, St Mary’s High and Westleigh High, all schools played each other in a round robin format with Golborne High finishing victorious..
In preparation for the event, the girls received coaching from Leigh Centurions Community RL Coach Gary Eccleston during curriculum time and at afterschool clubs, ‘Over the last 6 weeks I have been attending five High Schools with over 200 Year 7 girls taking part in tag rugby sessions. Every girl who participated over the 6 weeks really enjoyed themselves. I would like to congratulate all the girls who were finally selected to represent their school in the festival and also the teaching staff for attending on the day. From the reaction and smiles on all of the girl’s faces it showed that they enjoyed the day and that the festival was a great success’ Gary stated.
At half-time of the Leigh Centurions match, all festival participants were presented with a certificate of attendance and Golborne High receiving the winner’s cup.
Heather Parker, Leigh Centurions Community Development Officer commented, ‘The event was a great day for all the teams involved, the skill level on show was exceptional from all the girls. The girls obviously enjoyed the curriculum time coaching sessions and all appeared proud to represent their schools on the day.’
The festival was played in memory of Anne Waltho, the SSCO for Golborne High and Westleigh High who sadly passed away earlier this year. The festival will now be held as an annual event.Many thanks to all who took part. More pictures in the Gallery!
NETBALL
Netball has been as busy as usual this year with Y8, 9,10 and 11 in league action.
The Year 8 teams unbeaten run was brought to an end in the final round of the first set of matches, where they lost 2 out of 3 games. The girls still have all to play for, as after Christmas we will be playing all the teams again.
The Year 9 team has maintained their unbeaten run, having never been beaten since Year 7. The girls have been working incredibly hard this year and despite players missing and some weeks only playing with 6 St Mary's top the leader board. A special mention must be given to Ashleigh Stirling for being chosen for the Greater Manchester U14 County Netball squad. Well done Ashleigh!
The Year 10 team has gone from strength to strength, again maintaining their unbeaten run from Year 7. All the girls put 100% effort into each and every game and have been rewarded with an incredible 10 match unbeaten run this season. A special mention to Lucy Matthews who has been chosen to represent the region as part of the North West of England U16 Netball squad. This is a massive achievement and we are all very proud of Lucy here at St Mary's.
The Year 11 team ended their Netball days at St Mary's with an impressive finish of 3rd in the league. The girls have been very committed to the Netball matches throughout their time at St Mary's and the Girls PE staff would like to thank them for their commitment.
6th Form - For the first time this year St Mary’s have entered their 6th Form team into the National Schools Championships. Colleges from all over Greater Manchester compete here, including Bury Grammar and Oldham 6th Form. The girls were all excellent and looked very smart in their new kit. Unfortunately we did not make it through the group stages, but we posted two excellent wins against Bolton School, and Ashton-On-Mersey.
From l-r (Jess Couser, Emily Hunt, Kirsty Doyle, Amy Matthews, Megan Oldbury, Siobhan Murphy, Melissa Banner)
National Schools County Round - On Saturday 13th Nov St Mary’s will be competing in the toughest competition for school Netball- the National Schools qualifying rounds. The U14 team will consist of a mixture of the Y8 and Y9 girls, and the U16 team will consist of members of the Y10 and 11 squads. Good luck girls!
SSCO/FESCO
It has been a very busy half term for Miss Pearson! The Year 9 leaders have been a credit to St Mary’s and their attendance at the junior sports leaders conference and the Junior Dance leaders conference will have many benefits in their development in Sport and leadership. Year 9 leaders have also helped Miss Pearson to deliver a Football festival for Year 3 pupils from our family of primary schools. The Festival was a massive success and all of the leaders were brilliant on the day.
Triathlon
This year Wigan Schools held their very first ‘Triathlon’ consisting of a swim, bike and run. St Mary’s entered 2 teams into the event, and came away from the day with the overall winners trophy! Excellent performances on the day came from Josh Tootil and Nathan Haslam. Well done to everyone that competed!
The St Mary’s Triathlon Team!
Young Ambassador
St Mary’s very own Young Ambassador for Sport Melissa Banner and Miss Pearson attended this year’s Young Ambassadors conference at Lancashire County Cricket Club. Melissa was presented with her Adidas ‘Platinum Ambassador’ hoodie and kit. During the conference Melissa met members of the GB Olympic team and was inspired to help more young people ‘get into sport’.
Step Into Sport
15 pupils from the St Mary’s Sixth Form attended the annual ‘Step Into Sport Conference’ at Robin Park. Pupils were given the opportunity to gain a leadership award in a selection of sports, with many of our students choosing Rugby and Volleyball. All pupils are now enrolled into the Wigan Leadership academy where they ‘log’ the hours they volunteer in the community and in return they receive free places on coaching courses. If anybody is interested in registering for the academy please see Miss Pearson.