Issue 85 • 13 December 2013

Dear Parents and friends,

This is the final NPS Newsletter before Christmas and the last of 2013, a year in which the school has taken yetmore confident steps forward in its educational provision, whilst weathering an interminable winter in the firstmonths of the year and the final spasms, we hope, of a long economic winter. My thanks, as ever, go to allmembers of our community who put so much effort into making the school the wonderful place that it is today.

Our pupils, your children, achieve so much in their lives with their extraordinary stamina, creativity, sense of fun,energy and enthusiasm. It is a wonderful privilege to see how they show respect for each other, approach life witha sense of adventure, excel in the performing arts and demonstrate great sporting talents. Life is to be enjoyed andlife at Prep School is no different. I hope that, as you spend some precious time relaxing with your children overthe holiday, you will be able to see how much value has been added to your children’s lives by all that theyexperience and achieve at Northbourne Park.

As one new parent recently commented, it is not an easy balance to strike in a school, to create a warm, informalfamily atmosphere which at the same time promotes academic focus and high standards. I cannot agree more. Westand by our deep belief that if children feel happy and nurtured, 90% of the educational battle is won.

At the end of this long and busy term, our members of staff are looking forward to a good Christmas break everybit as much as the pupils! They are inspiring, creative, disciplined professionals who contribute so much to ourcommunity and the lives of yourchildren. I thank them mostsincerely for their work over this pastterm.

Our governors too dedicate somuch to this community behind thescenes. I am indebted to them fortheir expert professional advice andguidance.

..and finally to you, our parents,who support the school in itseducational purposes. There arepresumably some evenings afterwork when it would not be your firstchoice to bake a cake in theconfiguration of an animal or plantcell or to procure a Victoriancostume for your child or create achick racetrack for one of thechildren’s stalls. Perhaps you wouldrather sit down with a large drinkrather than bake canapés foranother school event? I hope thatyour children thank you for yourgood-humoured support of all theseactivities, which make such a hugedifference to the life of the school.You are so generous with your timeand your enthusiasm and you giveso much to the school, particularlyover the busy two final weeks of thisterm.

FROM THE HEADMASTER...

NewsNORTHBOURNE PARK SCHOOL

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Merry Christmas from all of the staff

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General NewsNPS Paris Reunion, 8th March 2014.NPS Madrid Reunion, 22nd March2014Please put these dates in your diary andjoin us if you are free. Further details areavailable from the School Office.

Dickens WorldYear 3 & 4 children had a great day outin Chatham last week which included aninteractive Aladdin Pantomime and atour around London in the 1800s. Thankyou to Christie Riley for organising it.

Fabulous Friday 6th DecemberWell done to all of the staff and pupilsinvolved in a truly outstandingChristingle service. Nobody does itbetter than our 007-9 year olds whoentertained parents for over an hourwith memorized songs, poems, andsketches all relating to Advent and theChristingle tradition. I was absolutelystaggered by the level of performance and asked them for an equally impressive encore in last Tuesday’s PrepSchool assembly.

Years 5 & 6, meanwhile made the journey by horse-drawn carriage (well..coach) to Leeds Castle for a VictorianChristmas experience and boy did they dress suitably for the occasion!

Friday drew to a close with the ever-popular Junior and Senior Christmas discos. Thank you to the Friends fororganising a lovely drinks reception in the Dining Hall while the children bopped. Thank you to all involved for afun evening.

Super Saturday 7th DecemberThis was an action-packed afternoon of sporting competition and it is wonderful to see so many old boys and girlsreturning to play. Thank you for supporting in the right spirit.

Nursery & Reception and Class 1 and 2 NativitiesThis is where performance skills and confidence come from at Northbourne Park. At the time of writing, I amlooking forward to seeing the results of all the hard work as our youngest pupils re-enact the Nativity story in ourbeautiful church. The Nativities are always highlights of our winter term calendar.

Christmas ConcertWell done to all of our musicians on a superb concert showcasing our musical excellence. It is wonderful to haveeverybody involved in music-making at NPS.

The last day…This is one of my favourite days at the school. Our buildings lend themselves particularly well to Christmasfestivities and our ancillary staff do us proud, decorating the buildings with boughs of holly, cooking a scrumptiousChristmas lunch and not a humbug to be seen! The staff skits are a wonderful and often irreverent end to the yearwhen some old chestnuts, which should be roasting on an open fire, come out for an annual airing. My particularfavourites are Mr Punton and his phantom pregnancy (don’t ask) and the Grinches who stir the children into afrenzy by taunting them with empty sweet wrappers.

I never get the chance to thank Lucy Gleave in public for the Carol service. If the standard of the singing atChallock is anything to go by, we have an end of term treat in store. I would therefore like to take this opportunityto thank Mrs Gleave very much indeed for the huge amount of work she puts into our end of term musical eventsand wish her a very restful holiday.

Emma joins me in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, (please do join us on Christmas Day at 10am for ourannual service if you are about) and a healthy and happy 2014.

With best wishes,

Edward

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General NewsCongratulations to the following children for receiving AutumnTerm Headmaster Commendations during Week 13:-

NAME HAS BEEN AWARDED A COMMENDATION FOR Olivia Ryeland Player of the match v Wellesley U11BLadislas Bacot Excellent RevisionLouis Jonglez de Ligne Excellent RevisionFerdinand Plessix Getting 100% in the Geography testMirko Matitia Getting 100% in the Geography testElie Schneider Getting 95% in the Geography testJoseph Plessix Getting 94% in the Geography testLuke Skingle Man of the match v Lorenden Thurso Willett Man of the match v LorendenRoshan Aiyagari Man of the match v LorendenNils Riviere Excellent RevisionCamille Crye Excellent RevisionRaphael Lanvin Excellent RevisionJoseph Plessix Excellent RevisionJoseph Plessix Excellent RevisionQuentin D’Assault Excellent RevisionJoseph Plessix A very good French examLucile Bizot - Ngomo A very good French examLucile Bizot - Ngomo A very good French examLucile Bizot - Ngomo Excellent RevisionLucile Bizot - Ngomo Excellent Revision Year 5 Their excellent effort in their French assemblyAnna Bevan Her excellent performance in French of ‘le petit

sapin’Luke Skingle His generous support of the Year 5 French

assemblyJack Shipton Nobly stepping in to fill a part in the Year 5

French assemblyFelix Habert Excellent revision Ferdinand Plessix Excellent revisionJustine Lendais Excellent revisionMirko Matitia Excellent revisionJorge Puertolas Excellent revisionMatthis Tayssier Excellent revisionOlivia Ryeland Player of the Match against Wellesley U11B Clara Nagle Player of the Match against JKSOlivia Ryeland Player of the Match against Kent College. Patrick ‘super-sub’ Davies Player of the Match against Kent College.Ferdinand Plessix An amazing History PowerPoint presentation. Jorge Puértolas Excellent Maths Review testMathis Tayssier Excellent Maths Review testNils Riviere Excellent Maths Review testLucile Bizot Excellent Maths Review testVictor Saint Bris Excellent Maths Review testJoseph Plessix Excellent Science Review testVictor Saint Bris Excellent Science Review testFelix Habert Excellent Science Review testCamille Crye Excellent Science Review testJaime Guzman Excellent Science Review test Ferdinand Plessix Excellent Science Review test John-Rufus Carleton-Marsh Excellent Maths Review test Harriet Balfour Excellent Maths Review test Thurso Willett Excellent Maths Review test Sophia Scholfield Excellent Maths Review test Felix Dont Man of the Match v Dover CollegeNic Yanni Man of the Match v Junior King’s Ferdinand Plessix Man of the Match v Dover College.Felix Dont Man of the Match v Junior King’sNils Riviere Man of the Match v St Edmund’s Lucile Bizot Reading another 5 books this term.Lucile Bizot Reading another 5 books this termLucile Bizot Reading another 5 books this termKai Shoon Kan Excellent effort in ScienceEmma Wardough Excellent effort in ScienceLeo Bevan Excellent Science reviewArchie Adamson Excellent Science reviewCalum Nagle Excellent Science reviewMarcus Yanni Excellent Science review

Congratulations to the following children for receiving AutumnTerm Headmaster Commendations during Week 13:-

NAME HAS BEEN AWARDED A COMMENDATION FOR Evie Jackaman Excellent Science reviewSophia Scholfield Excellent Science reviewAshika Vaughan Excellent Science reviewHarriet Balfour Excellent Science reviewJean-Baptiste Defour Excellent Science reviewCamille Olcott Excellent Science reviewNic Yanni Excellent Science reviewIsabella Savage 96% in Spanish reviewRoshan Aiyagari 97% in Spanish review Clara Nagle 97% in Spanish review Sophia Scholfield 95% in Spanish review Toby Woodgate 94% in Spanish review Marcus Yanni 92% in Spanish review Calum Nagle 92% in Spanish review Thurso Willett 90% in Spanish review Alice Renard 90% in Spanish reviewFelix Habert 16.8/20 English examElie Schneider 16.3/20 English examFerdinand Plessix 14.2/20 English examLucile Bizot 14.5/20 English examJorge Puertolas Molina 14/20 English examCamille Crye 13.8/20 English examRaphael Lanvin Reading 5 Books this termLadislas Bacot Reading 5 Books this termLadislas Bacot Reading 5 more books this termFelix Habert Top Marks in History reviewFelix Habert An amazing History Power Point presentationToby Woodgate An excellent French Review Sam Ditton An excellent French ReviewCharlie Scholfield An excellent French ReviewAnna Bevan Achieving excellent results in Review test Thurso Willett Achieving excellent results in Review testSophia Scholfield Achieving excellent results in Review testHarriet Balfour Achieving excellent results in Review testAlexandra Bond Achieving excellent results in Review testGeorge Williams-Jones Achieving excellent results in Review test

We would like to remind you aboutwww.schoolstrader.com the peer-to-peer trading site. It’sa well established free service where you can buy, sell andrent everything from musical instruments, text books andbikes, to boats, wetsuits and holiday homes.

Trade with other families. Completely free. Schoolstraderhas featured across the media and as a Sunday Times Top10 website. Families can use Schoolstrader free of chargeto buy/sell anything from bikes to buggys, toys totrampolines, motors to musical instruments, even houses.The site has featured in most national media includingTimes, Telegraph and ITV. Schoolstrader covers all schooland university communities in the UK. It is open toeveryone aged 15 or over.

The site is green and easy to use – it encourages reuse ofitems. And it’s free for all private ads.

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General NewsNEW LAMDA TEACHER

From January 2014, I will be taking over from NicolaStewart as LAMDA Tutor. I have been a professionalactor and Performer for over fifteen years, performingin theatres at home and abroad as well as working inthe media of film, video and voiceover. I have taughtdrama and run workshops at numerous stage and prepschools and am a member of both the LAMDA board ofexaminers and the Association of LAMDA teachers.

Speech and Drama tuition takes place on a one to onebasis, each week for 30 minutes during the school dayand a number of spaces are available. The cost of thesession is £22.00.

Northbourne also offer acting duologue classes, wherea child may share the lesson with a friend andparticipate in the exams with a partner. The lessonwould still be for 30 minutes, but parents pay half thefee of a one- to -one lesson (i.e. £11.00).

If you are interested in your child participating, pleasecomplete the form that will be sent to you during theholidays and return it to the school office.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you haveany questions about the LAMDA exams or requirefurther information. My email address ismark.e.gregson@hotmail.com

Mark Gregson

YEAR 3 & 4 TRIP TO DICKENS WORLD

Mr Punton organised afantastic day out inChatham last week. Thechildren wereentertained with athoroughly enjoyable,interactive AladdinPantomime featuring thebaddy, Mr Have aBanana….I mean MrAbanaza amongst othervery talented and funnyactors. Mr Punton wassung to by the beautifulMadam Twanky andMiss Fendt was pulled onstage to be serenaded by The Emperor.

Then we were treated to a tour around London in the1800’s. The talk was informative and at times quitegruesome! The tour guides told how dirty and diseaseridden the streets of London were, but I won’t go intoany details here!

The children were great ambassadors for NPS and agrand time was had by all.

A huge thank you goes to Mr Punton for organisingeverything.

Congratulations to the following children for receiving AutumnTerm Headmaster Commendations during Week 14:-

NAME HAS BEEN AWARDED A COMMENDATION FOR Toby Woodgate A great Maths ReviewCharlie Scholfield Excellent Maths Review (1st Place!)Calum Nagle Excellent Maths ReviewThomas Mead Excellent Maths ReviewEvie Jackaman Excellent effort in MathsPatrick Davies Excellent Maths ReviewRoshan Aiyagari Excellent Maths ReviewArchie Adamson Excellent Maths ReviewPaddy Jackaman Good effort in MathematicsLibby Bowen Good effort in MathematicsZita Bizouard de Montille Good effort in MathematicsOscar Balfour Good effort in MathematicsFelix Dont Good effort in MathematicsOlaya Beacock Benavides A good Maths ReviewMarie-Louise Boisnier Very good Maths ReviewElla Sainsbury Excellent Maths ReviewNic Yanni Good Maths ReviewJoly Presland Very good Maths ReviewGeorge Titterton Excellent Maths ReviewZoey Yang Excellent Maths ReviewTristan Gauthier Excellent Maths ReviewCelia Aranda Sarmiento Very good Maths ReviewMathis Tayssier Excellent result in Spanish ReviewElie Schneider Excellent result in Spanish ReviewFerdinand Plessix Excellent result in Spanish ReviewLucile Bizot-Ngomo Excellent results in Spanish ReviewAlberico Bernard Excellent results in Spanish ReviewZoey Yang Great improvement in ScienceRuth Spencer Excellent Science testGeorge Titterton Excellent Science testEvie Jackaman Player of the match against Junior King’sHelena Beckett Player of the match against Junior King’sJean-Baptiste Defour A promising effort in R.S. reviewMarie-Louise Boisnier A promising effort in R.S. reviewPhilippa Leney Effort in R.S.Paddy Jackaman Improved effort & engagement in R.S.Zita Bizouard de Montille Positive engagement & contribution in R.S.Libby Bowen A positive first term in R.S.Oliver Martin A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewNat Thompson A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewEmma Wardhaugh A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewLauren Spencer A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewRuth Spencer A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewTristan Gauthier A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewGeorge Williams-Jones A super effort in the R.S. end of term reviewElla Sainsbury A promising effort in the R.S. end of term

reviewCamille Olcott A promising effort in the R.S. end of term

review

LE PETIT SAPIN

Year 5 performed a wonderful French assembly aboutChristmas. The children shared their findings on thedifferent yuletide traditions that exist in England andFrance. They also impressed everyone by bravelyperforming, in French, a short play about ‘le petitsapin’. This tells the story of the little Christmas treewho is upset at not having any sparkling white snow tomake it beautiful, but is transformed by the brightlycoloured candles that Père Noël himself gives to it. Thechildren concluded their assembly by involving thewhole school in speaking French through singing arousing rendition of ‘Vive le Vent’, the equivalent of our‘Jingle Bells’. Well done Year 5! Francesca Modi

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News from the Boarding HouseAsk anyone in school and they will tell youthat the end of any term is busy, but nonemore so than the build-up to the Christmasbreak! We’ve already had our Christmas Fairwhere boarders and day children alikeshopped and ran stalls with enormoussuccess. Friday 29th November began ourlong weekend and also hosted an importantcross -country event involving lots of theboarders. They, and their non-boardingpeers, ran very well and there were manyvery pleased, if slightly aching, children atsupper that night! However, there was norest for their weary legs as on Saturday wedonned our coats and hats and made ourway to Gillingham ice rink where we took tothe ice for a couple of hours to test ourbalance and skill. I am very pleased to saythat all of the boarders and staff survived thetrip with all limbs still intact and had a very enjoyable time too! On Sundaywe baked and baked and baked making nearly a hundred biscuits betweenus! This began as Maria, one of our boarding girls, wanted to sell homemade biscuits to raise money for the Philippines. Other boarders made theirbiscuits too and then donated some for Maria to sell. A lovely idea and avery enjoyable day!

The week passed quickly and suddenly it was time to Party on Friday nightat the Friends’ annual Christmas Disco for the children. There was no prepthis evening, giving the boys and girls alike plenty of time to shower,change and beautify for the night ahead! Mr Riley’s disco was veryentertaining and incorporated volleyball ‘bunny ears’ and gymnastic ‘Y-position’ as some amusing dance moves!

This was followed by Super Saturday! An annual event at Northbourne Parkwhere competitive spirit reaches its climax! Parents v Children v Staff forNetball and the same for the men with the added challenge of an Old Boysteam for the Football. Many of our older boys and girls competed in theevents and everyone else got to watch and cheer for their peers, it was agreat afternoon!! The following day we opted for a change of scene and setoff to Canterbury to do some Christmas shopping. Armed with theirspending money the boarders visited many shops and came back withsome lovely gifts for their families… and a fair few gifts of the sugary varietyfor themselves too!

We are now in the final week of the school term and the children will soonbe on their way back to their families. This week we have the ChristmasConcert and the School Carol Service as well as lots of other festivities. Inboarding in particular we are packing and preparing to leave our dorms forthe holidays. On that note, a quick reminder to boarding parent toplease, please label any new clothes, shoes, gifts and gadgets thatcome back to school after the holidays. I understand it can be atiresome task but the children do lose and muddle things and it isvery helpful for us and them if their belongings are named, itwould also be very distressing if they lose a new gift so soon afterChristmas!

Sadly this week amongst our celebrations we also have to saygoodbye, good luck and a huge thank you to Cameron Channing,our current Gap Student. Cameron has been working as part of theboarding team since January and from the beginning developed a

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News from the Boarding House continued

great rapport with both the staffand children alike. He leaves us nowat the end of his Gap Year to go toUniversity in his home Country ofSouth Africa. I don’t think he realiseshow much he will be missed acrossthe whole Northbourne community,especially in boarding, and we thankhim very much for all that he hasput into his time at NPS and wishhim well with his future plans. Itwon’t be the same here without Cameron in his shorts and flip flops all year round, though I know he has beenteaching the children some South African phrases so that they remember him when they come back after theholidays!

On behalf of the boarding team may I wish you a safe holiday, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and HealthyNew Year!

Katie Brown (Assistant Boarding Tutor)

Boarder of The Week

Each week in boarding the Boarding staff choose an individual from each boarding house to be named Boarder of the Week.Children are selected because they have stood out throughout the week for all of the right reasons. Perhaps they may have been very helpful or shown kindness, others are children who are always quietly getting it right andsometimes it goes to a child who has tried hard to do well. Listed below are the children who have received the title this term. Congratulations once more to all of them on their efforts.

Date (2013) Girls House Boys House

16th September Olaya Beacock Benavides Pedro Ruiz De La Prada23rd September Zita Bizouard De Montille Mirko Matitia30th September Alice Renard Elie Schneider

7th October Zoey Yang Alberico Bernard14th October No Recipient Felix Habert

11th November No Recipient Ladislas Bacot18th November No Recipient Raphael Lanvin25th November Olaya Beacock Benavides Alberico Bernard2nd December Alice Renard Ilya Malchevskiy9th December Ruth Spencer Felix Dont

FROM THE HEAD OF PRE-PREP

It was lovely to see so many parents and grandparentsin church this week for the two Pre-Prep nativities.Nursery and Reception performed ‘The First ChristmasDay’ and Class 1 & 2 presented a musical nativityentitled ‘Mary, Mary’. The children have worked reallyhard practising for these performances and I hope youall enjoyed them.

We had some special visitors to the Pre-Prep this week;the children were very excited to find some festivedonkeys in the orchard! Many thanks to Cameron’smummy for organising this for us.

As I write, the children are looking forward to the lastday of term, with a visit from Father Christmas, a festiveChristmas lunch and some special entertainment involving some animal handling! Our thanks to Lesley Oliver andher team for their hard work catering for us all throughout the year.

Finally, we look forward to seeing you at the Carol Service this evening in St. George’s Church and wish you all avery Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Alison Pouget

Class 2Class 2 welcomed 11 month-old Sophie, Olivia’s little sister to answer questions about the development of a baby.Luckily Sophie’s parents were on hand to help her! This rounded off our Science topic on ‘Health & Growth’. Thechildren were delighted to have a real baby in the classroom. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Johnson for their support.

Marie Curie – Mini Pots of CareWe are again supporting the work of the charity ‘Marie Curie Cancer Care’. Every child in the Pre-Prep has beengiven a daffodil bulb to plant over the Christmas holidays. We are hoping for a lovely display at the end of theSpring Term. For more information please visit: www.mariecurie.org.uk. Thank you for any donations to supportthis worthy charity.

Dates to remember:Spring Term begins: Monday 6th January

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Pre-Prep News

HEADMASTER’S COMMENDATIONS

Nursery: Nia Stokes A great start to Nursery ClassJuliette Spencer Lovely Christmas artworkUmaiza Malik Lovely artworkSamuel Brown Effort in Nativity practice

Reception:Zac Webster Brilliant reading

Class 1:Noah van der Stam-Moyo Good progress in reading

Class 2:Elianna Webster Interest in Natural ScienceRia Sidhu Lovely creative skillsFarlie Willett Excellent cello playing in Assembly

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Sports NewsFOOTBALL

Wednesday 4th December 2013

Colt’s A v St Edmund’s (Away)

This was the last game of the season and the aim was very simple; win or draw and we finished second in the league; lose andwe finish fourth.

The first half was all Northbourne. Our passing is so much quicker now and St Ed’s were having trouble dealing with it.Northbourne rained attack after attack but their keeper did his job and we hit the bar 3 times! 0-0 at half-time.

Right after the re-start Northbourne launched another attack but despite 3 shots and the ball hitting the woodwork for thefourth time, the ball wouldn’t go in the net. St Ed’s dominated the rest of the half and if it wasn’t for some fine saves by MarcusYanni, St Ed’s would have scored 2 or 3 times.

Eventually the final whistle went and Northbourne had achieved the result we wanted. Good job well done.

This has been an outstanding season for the A team. Second in the Molten League, finalists in the Primary School tournament,semi-finalists in the Prep School tournament, we have beaten Wellesley home and away, we held the county champions to adraw and no team has beaten us twice. This is a record to be proud of.

Thanks to Dolrick for preparing the pitches, the dinner ladies for great match teas and to Pete, Cameron and Hadyn for helpingcoach.

Final Score : St Edmund’s 0 Northbourne 0

Men-of-the-Match : The Whole Squad – BLOOD AND GUTS.

Saturday 7th December 2013

Super Saturday Football

We all knew it was going to be an eventful afternoon when Mr Gauthier was escorted off the pitch with a mild cramp. The firstmatch ended with the parents showing the less talented youth of the old boys’ that even though they’re are old and slowthey’ve still got it. The end score was 1:0 to the parents. A big thank you must go to Mo for great sideline assistance to MrGauthier who it turns out had actually broken his leg. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

The Staff team then took on the current NPS 1st team. The not very organised staff still had players getting changed whenwhistle blew but with the 1st team not being the most talented bunch of football players, it wasn’t difficult for staff to walk ofthe pitch 1: 0 victors. Well done on a brilliant hand ball Mr Riley.

Unfortunately there isn’t much of a report on the Parents vs 1st team match. This is due to the fact that I was too busydeliberating tactics, game plans and other ”captainy” things. Although I do believe Mr Hickson scored a great goal and that theparents were victorious.

It was then the Staff vs the Old boys, this was the game we had all been dreading. This would not be like playing the 1st team.These boys had now left NPS and had managed to get some proper football coaching. There were times when the staff hadtheir hearts in their throats as the old boys bombarded our goal with shots, it was like Pearl Harbour with wave after wave ofattacks. Mr Puntin, who was actually stationed at Peal Harbour at the time, then decided that being dominated was beginningto “niggle” him and took action. After giving some good advice and words of encouragement the staff managed to score agoal. This ended up being crucial as the end score was 1:0.

The final matches had to be played at the same time because Mr Riley forgot that in winter in gets darks at 13h00 in England.So once again I am unable to report on the match between the old boys and the 1st team although I do know that the 1stteam lost again. Surprise, surprise.

The final match between the staff and the parents would decide the overall champions of Super Saturday 2013. This meant thepressure was on .Some tenacious defending saw the parents lose their second member as Mr Hickson stumbled off, ratherdazed after a very sceptical slide tackle.

One mild concussion, a broken leg, four missed penalties and some damaged egos was the result of Super Saturday 2013.Congratulations to the staff team on winning the golden ball once again.

A round of applause must to go to Mr Balfour for an outstanding performance in goal. So lets all use our hands to do so.

NETBALL

Saturday 7th December 2013

Super Saturday Netball: Mums v Girls v Staff

Play began with an exciting match between staff and girls. The girls fought hard to keep possession of the ball with some >

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Sports Newsclever centre passes and player positioning. Despite their efforts, the height and perhaps experience of the staff team gave thestaff a big advantage. Mrs Robinson didn't miss a shot and with Fiona shooting and setting up goals too our attack was strong.In the final two quarters of the game the girls began to use their knowledge of the game to their advantage, using bouncepasses rather than over-head and passing the ball quickly. They were able to score 5 lovely goals in this time, well done girls!Final Score: 11-5.

Next the mums played the Girls. The Girls talked tactics and changed around some of their players and the techniques whichhad worked against the staff. They put up a good fight but again were against an adult team, giving them an immediate heightdisadvantage. The mums too had had to rearrange their team last minute but quickly got stuck into the game and their newpositions. With a strong attack and an advantaged defence, the team was strong. Having already played a game, by the finalquarter the girls were tiring too. The final score was 8-2 well played to both teams!

Finally, the deciding match, staff v mums! Having been separated by only one goal the previous year, competition was high forthis match and the umpires were kept on their toes! Both sides were determined and with some talented players on the court itwas a challenge for both sides.

As the game got going the speed picked up. A strong mums' defence led to a change in Staff positioning but for the staff,getting the ball to the goal was certainly a challenge. When it did happen though, there were several shots at goal and manywere successful. Before half time the mums scored their first goal and were spurred on by this. They challenged for another goalwhich they got, but the staff team were working very well together and scored further also.

Final score, 9-3 to the staff.

It was a very good spirited but competitive event! Congratulations to all who took part.

HOCKEY

Wednesday 4th December 2013

U11 ‘A’ v Junior King’s (Away)

Northbourne played some great hockey leading up to our attacking circle. Time and again we broke through their defence, butseemed to run away from the opposition’s goal.

Finally Isabella Savage saw the light and ran towards the goal, hitting the ball so sweetly that it slammed into the back board.NPS rejoiced so much that they forgot to play for the next 5 minutes giving Junior King’s a chance to equalise.

Fortunately Ashika Vaughn made some great saves and kept NPS in the lead. Evie Jackaman tackled her heart out enabling herteam mates to have many more attacking opportunities. Unfortunately no more goals were scored.

Well done to all the girls on their improvement throughout the season.

Final score: 1-0 to Northbourne!

Player of the match: Evie Jackaman for her the amazing amount of tackles she made.

U11 ‘B’ v Junior King’s (Away)

The girls from both sides fought hard throughout this game and enjoyed the competition. Play began and, despiteNorthbourne clustering around the ball, possession was fairly equal across the two teams.

Northbourne showed some lovely and effective defence throughout the game and just before the first whistle the defensivepasses were converted to an attack on goal, completed by Abby.

Being 1-0 up should have strengthened us, but for a little time after, we were slow to react to the ball. Junior Kings quicklyscored a very impressive high-speed goal which we were unable to defend, followed by another goal due partly to somefumbling on our part.

The NPS girls picked up their play and fought hard to challenge for another goal, Olivia and Abby really pushing forward withsome clean, clever passes. Possession was still very equal across the two teams and as a result our defence worked hard.Particular praise goes to Helena for challenging the ball (not waiting for it!) and being very alert throughout the game. JuniorKings scored another good goal, leaving the final score an unlucky 3-1 to Junior Kings. Good effort girls, but you mustremember to think ahead, you need to be where the ball is going, not where it has been!

Player of the Match: Helena Beckett for some super tackles and determined defence!