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was an encouraging sign that this group of players were resilient and willing to work until the final whistle. The Bradfield game was arguably their best performance in which they were clinical in attack and stepped up to the physicality in defence. Well done to Flora Welchman and Lily Ainsleigh Jones for receiving coaches’ player and players’ player respectively. The 3rd team treated spectators to several entertaining games, with the result being decided in the dying minutes. This included an early-season match against Wellington which finished 24-22 and then, later in the term, two away nail biters against Malvern and Dean Close in which they won 30-29 and 21-20 respectively. The 3rd team were an enthusiastic group of players who were keen to learn and most exciting is the fact that they are a young team comprising several Fifth Form players so they will be able to build on the term’s successes this year. Special mentions go to Flossie Butler-Adams and Honor Kidd-May for being awarded coaches’ player and players’ player respectively. The 4th to 8th teams all showed

good enthusiasm at training and looked to build upon their individual skills. The players enjoyed the opportunity to play in competitive fixtures during the term and although the result did not always go our way, there were many performances of which we can be proud. The following players received coaches awards in recognition of their efforts across the term: Iona Thompson, Elena Azais Tatistscheff, Rosie Perkins, Bibi Brech, Olga Muravitskaya, Sophie Sharman and Alexis Mpanga. Players’ player awards were given to the following: Maylia Hume-Ashman, Tana Simkin, Lily Gibb, Prisca Olagunju, Sade McNichols-Thomas, Evie McGill and Bella Meikle. Netball and Co-education The Netball Club enjoyed the opportunity to promote and support co-educational sport during the term, most notably when we teamed up with the Hockey Club for the annual hockey and netball festival. This was a popular event and a fantastic occasion to celebrate boys’ and girls’ sport together. In addition, the Netball Club

welcomed boys to the Shell after-school netball session in the Autumn Term. Again, this was another successful initiative to promote co-education within the sport. Despite traditionally being a sport primarily played by girls and women, men’s netball is growing worldwide and it has been good to start reflecting this at St Edward’s. House Netball The season culminated with two fantastic House netball competitions. We were blessed with beautiful sunshine and, as always, it was wonderful to see a plethora of colours on the courts and to watch girls across all teams come together to compete in a spirited afternoon of netball. In the senior competition a strong Corfe side won all their games to be crowned champions, with Avenue coming a close second and Oakthorpe in third. The junior competition was a closer affair with the final round match of Jubilee and Corfe the decider. Jubilee came away with a 2-goal lead which secured them the overall win. Oakthorpe came a close third.

Tallulah Parshall