SSCo » Ansford

Academy continues to promote High Quality Leadership Opportunities

Rob — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:03:48 +0000

The first cohort of Young Leaders to take part in the Partnership Leadership Academy recently attended their second session of activity at Kings School in Bruton. Along with similar students from Tone School Sports Partnership, Year 7 – 10 pupils from Ansford experienced a day of theory and practical activity to support them in developing their Leadership skills. Enthusiasm was high from all concerned and a real desire to go further was demonstrated by the students.

Leadeship Academies are designed to take the very best student leaders and offer them information and education in Leadership which is often delivered as high as business corporate level. This academy was no different with the skills of negotioation, communication and brokering all being addressed.

Working with a mentor in each group students took part in a variety of challenegs designed to encourage their team work skills and building on previous academy experiences. The final activity required whole rgoup cooperation where a veriety of challenges and puzzles were set which really tested their ability to work cooperatively to be a successful as they can be. part of this was to produce Leaders poems, a couple of which are below:

When you start make a plan
Get all the ideas you can
Communicate: talk or show
Make sure that your team all know

Don’t do it all: delegate
Improve the plan: negotiate
Leading is a team effort
Even if you’re bad at sport

To learn to lead and help each other
To trust and cherish one another
When someone’s down, we lend a hand
When someone jumps we help them land

When someone cries we help them smile
Objectives they may take a while
But in the end we follow through
I am a leader true and true

The students are now working on events and activities where they can use their skills more often in schools before looking ahead to the final installment of their programme which will be a residential trip in the autumn when everything will be brought together.
I big thank you once again should go to Kings School in Bruton for hosting the academy and being so accommodating, to Chris Ray and his team for their commitment and patience in delivery and to Karen Arnold and Lucy Mowlam Asst PDMs for coordinating the whole project.

Year 8 & 10 Partnership Rugby Finals

sue j — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:37:30 +0000

Delayed due to the weather, the South East Somerset School Sport Partnership Under 13s Boys final between Ansford and Westfield Schools took place at Castle Cary RFC.

Under the watchful eye of their rugby-playing Head of PE, Paul Hoggett, Ansford fielded a confident side, with several of the team members actually playing for Castle Cary RFC. With good support from parents they warmed up with intent, looking to impress the opposition from Westfield from the Yeovil area.

However, the opening first 20 minutes were pretty evenly matched with both teams looking to get the ball out wide and play an open game. Ansford looked well drilled, were committed in their tackles and looked to have the upper hand. Westfield played the basics well and when the opportunity presented itself nipped in after some good quick handling to take a 7-0 lead. Ansford responded well and pressed hard for the remainder of the half, with their best chance coming just before half time, but failed to get on the score board.

The second half once again saw Ansford encamped in the Westfield half, but despite playing a simple straight forward game they failed to capitalise the pressure into points. Meanwhile Westfield stuck to their task well and always looked dangerous on the counter attack and managed to score twice more before Ansford got points on the board. The final score of 26-5 in Westfield’s favour demonstrated the need to make the most of opportunities when they arise. Pictured below are Westfield.

On the adjacent pitch, the U15s from Frome College from the northern part of the Partnership took on the boys from Buckler’s Mead. The first 10 minutes saw both sides testing out the strengths of the opposition and Frome quickly demonstrated good skills and team work in both the scrum and the line out. This strength soon produced points from scrum 5 metres out that Frome drove over the line. Buckler’s Mead pictured below.

Frome then established a dominant pattern of play, where they were quick to the breakdown, tackled low and hard and were always looking to get the ball out wide to their two wingers who clearly had pace. This sustained pressure led to Frome going into the half time break leading 20-0. In the second half, Buckler’s Mead demonstrated rugged commitment as they constantly looked to get on the score board and get themselves back into the match. Their efforts were rewarded when a long kick from their own 22m was eventually chased down allowing one of their centres to run in under the posts. Frome continued to dominate after this, wining the match 32-7. Winners Frome pictured below.

All teams benefited from having rugby coaches from local club sides offering and providing their support to the school staff – school to club links being one of the major areas of development of the School Sport Partnership. Peter Dickens from Frome College recognises the value of this joined up approach and is looking to integrate the coaches from Frome RFC into the overall programme of rugby offered to his students.

Tag to Twickenham Finals

sue j — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:21:20 +0000

A full compliment of 16 primary schools turned up to Somerton on Friday 26th March, all eager to win one of the two coveted places in the County Championships at Wells RFC in May.

Not every Primary school can boast a rugby playing teacher, so this year a number of very large players were seen running around during the warm ups and in between games. Higher Diploma students from both Strode and Yeovil FE Colleges turned up to support the event as part of their community service. In addition to taking charge of the timing and smooth running of the actual final programme, many also became team manager and coach for the afternoon.

The young primary school pupils definitely benefited from not only having young enthusiastic support, but also gained from the passing, attacking and defending skills that the Young Leaders passed on.

All teams played 3 games each in 4 different pools, where most results went down to the final match before an overall winner emerged; the semi finals were contested by Hambridge vs Curry Mallet and North Cadbury vs Milborne Port. These were refereed by Bruce Weddell, who was supporting the event on behalf of Somerton Rugby Club, and Will Hopkinson from Yeovil College, who won the praise of many parents and staff for his approach to refereeing young players.

These matches were played with good passion and commitment, by young players who were beginning to feel the effects of the 4th match. Miborne Port won their game after a brief period of extra time to meet Hambridge in the final

Speed and agility won the day for Hambridge. Their young players were still full of running and they made the most of a couple of missed tags to run in the eventual winners. We wish both Hambridge and Milborne Port the best of luck in the next round.

Year 9 Rugby Finals – Last Gasp Result

sue j — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:54:57 +0000

Once again set in the heart of the East Somerset countryside, King’s School in Bruton hosted the School Sports Partnership Year 9 Final between Frome and Preston. The Partnership is the largest in the country, which creates a number of challenges, so the presence of Frome College in a rugby final demonstrates that much good work is paying off

During the warm up both sides demonstrated their desire to win this encounter and Preston set the early pace spending much of the first 20 minutes in the Frome half. Against the trend of the modern game, both sides kept the ball to hand and made good attempts to recycle it from the mauls and get it to the backs. Eventually Preston’s pressure paid off and on the stroke of half time they nudged ahead to lead 5-0.

The second half saw Frome balance the possession and the game was played mostly in the middle ground. A break from the 22 lead to quick hands down the line for one of Frome’s centres to score and level the match at 5-5. Passions ran high on the pitch, which were well managed by the referee Andrew Nixon and with only 10 minutes to go Frome, who were beginning to look the fitter of the two teams, managed another break on the left to lead 10-5.

A rare Preston punt up field in the closing minutes led to a chase and scramble in Frome’s 22 which eventually led to the second Preston try to level the score. With the last kick of the match, the Preston kicker – under considerable pressure – converted the try to win the game for the Yeovil school 12-10.

Meanwhile the Year 7 Rugby Festival saw a close match in the semi final between Buckler’s Mead and Maiden Beech, which Buckler’s won
5-0 and in the second semi final Ansford came out winners against Stanchester 30-0. In the final Ansford, who trailed for a long while eventually went on to win 15-10.

Another notable success was the support at the event by rugby coaches from the local clubs, who had turned up to see how well their players performed in the schools environment. Another demonstration of how the work to improve the pathway for young players by linking clubs and schools closer is making a difference.

Ansford Cluster Leading the Way

Lucy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:45:08 +0000

42 young leaders from the Ansford Cluster (Ansford Secondary, Castle Cary and Queen Camel Primary School) took part in the first Partnership Gifted and Talented Leadership Camp held at Kings School, Bruton on Friday 3rd July.

The day was a fantastic success with all the leaders facing up to the challenges and solving loads of leadership porblems during the day. It was a very rewarding experience to see how much they were able to learn and achieve in a few short hours through the learning activities and ennvironment created and supported by the staff.

All of the leaders completed a leadership profile and had the opportunity to compare this and receive feedback from the staff working with them during the day so they all have a leadership action to take back to school. In addition to this a number of them have been selected to take part in the Somerset Leadership Academy workshops that will be run over the next two years.

Plans are already underway for next years camp which is likely to be held in the autumn term to enable the programme to be rolled out more effectively with links to other opportunities for leadership within the partnership and across Somerset.

Year 10 & 11 Central Venue League Rugby Finals

Lucy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:37:42 +0000

The second day of the finals on the 25th March was equally cold and crisp, which didn’t appear to lessen the enthusiasm of the Year 10 & 11 boys who were clearly fired up to finish with a couple of wins.Westfield took on Stanchester and showed some well drilled skills by quickly recycling the ball, and with quick handling they quickly established a two try lead, which they took into half time. The value of team talks during the break became obvious when Stanchester came out clearly committed to getting back into the game and spent much time driving for the line within the Westfield half. Although they scored their well deserved try, Stanchester eventually lost 19-5.

Meanwhile on the second pitch Sexeys were looking a polished side; breaking fast out wide, tackling hard and low and making very few mistakes. They well deserved their 33-0 lead at half time, but Ansford worked much harder in the second half, developing some cohesion as a team and limited the final score to 40-0.

All set then for a rematch between Sexeys and Westfield of an earlier round where the score had been 0-0. The boys from Westfield appeared to step up their game in anticipation of the Sexeys attacks and looked the better side for much of the first half. With the score at 3-3, Sexeys scrum half successfully pounced on a loose ball from a scrum 5 metres from the Westfield line to go into the break 8-3 ahead. The second half was 15 minutes of hard committed rugby, played with real passion and drive, and the result could have gone either way where good final try saving tackles kept the score line the same. In the end, a final disputed try on the line (no third TV eye here yet?), right at the end of the match gave the match to Sexeys 13-3.

The year 10 match was played on the fields next to the school. King Arthurs got the better of Preston, 17-5 in the first semi-final and Huish overcoming Holyrood 212-5 in the second match.

So with the final delayed by the arrival of the air ambulance to take an injured player off to Yeovil, King Arthurs took on Huish in what turned out to be a good end to end affair. However, the regular input from Club rugby coach Justin Coach and member of staff Ralph Wright appeared to make the difference with King Arthurs eventually winning 17-7.

Central Venue Rugby is new to our region and with such high quality matches it was a great advertisement in terms of how to conclude this format of a competition. Very many congratulations to all players who provided two excellent afternoons of rugby.A big thank you must also go to Kings for hosting the finals and the society referees taking charge of the games. Their support meant the event profile was raised even higher and allowed for a very enjoyable competition for all concerned.

Year 7 Central Venue League Rugby Finals

Lucy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:24:18 +0000

In the year 7’s semi finals Ansford took on Preston and Westfield played King Arthurs. Both matches showed fine young stars in the making, some committed handling and good awareness of space. The Ansford / Preston match was very close remaining at one try a piece until the last minute of the match when a good drive saw Ansford win the match 10 -5.

The second match was also very evenly matched, finely balanced at half time with a 5-5 score line. All to play for, the young lads from King Arthurs eventually gained the upper hand and following a couple of well worked phases eventually won 20-15.

The Year 7 winner’s final between Ansford and King Arthurs was always going to be pretty even, and both sides got stuck in right from the start with hard tackles and strong drives. In the gathering gloom, the emerging side of Ansford, coached by their playing teacher from Castle Cary RFC Paul Hoggett, just managed to edge ahead and won the match 5-0.

Year 11 Basketball Finals held at Yeovil College

Rob — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:56:31 +0000

The Year 11 finals were affected by similar pressures to that of the Year 9 event, influencing the format of the competition right up to the day before, however thanks again to Yeovil College and Matt Nolan from SASP, a triangular series of games saw the remaining teams battle it out for top honours.

With expectation matching the height of some of the year 11 players, the first of the triangular matches took place between Bucklers Mead and Wadham. Craig Fletcher’s team, carefully nutured over the years, came up against a well organised Wadham defence who made it clear that they were going to dominate around the board. Despite several penetrating attacks at the board, Bucklers found themselves 15 - 7 down half way through the 25 running clock period. However, Wadham made good use of speed and quick handling to win the match 30-15.

Ansford were reckoned to be an unknown outfit in the second match, and looking good in the maroon strip that Rob Treacher claimed to secured, came up against a Bucklers team rejuvenated by Craig’s inspirational team talk. Right from the start the match was tight, with Bucklers taking an early 5-2 lead, that was quickly nailed back. With both teams failing to make the most of shots on the basket, the match was only 11 - 9 at the halfway stage. Whilst Bucklers always looked to build their attacks slowly, Ansford made the most of their speed with quick end to end passing and they pulled ahead to win 16 - 15.

The final match was then well set as the tournament decider, and the fast pace throughout the match showed both teams’ determination to win. Wadham however, once again dominated the rebounds both in defence and in attack and looked very organised in all aspects of their game. Leading 11-5 at the half way stage, they managed to restrict Ansford’s score to just 9 and finally won the Year 11 event, beating Ansford 28-9.

A regular club opporutnity now exisits for all standards of basketball open to boys and girls. If you are interested then go along to Yeovil College Sports Hall on a Wednesday evening 5 – 6pm for U13 and 6 – 7pm for U17. Your first session will be free and you will receive regular training from a top coach as well as the chance of regular fixtures against local teams. Everyone’s welcome!

Badminton – Center Parcs National School Championships

sue j — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:03:09 +0000

On 20th November Frome played host to the first round of the Key Stage 4 Boys’ event, supported by three teams from Whitstone and a team from Ansford.

The early matches, won by Frome and Ansford, showed where the expertise lay and highlighted some talented players from all schools. Ansford took an early lead in the results table with wins over Whitstone A and C, but Frome kept in close contact also winning their matches against the Whitstone teams. Although Whitstone A won their matches against the fellow teams, Whitstone C caused a minor stir by beating their B team 3:2. The photo below shows the Whitstone team.

With everything to play for in the crucial decider match, Ansford got off to a 2:0 lead before Frome pulled a match back. Although the final match was exciting and close at 21-19 Ansford came through to win the match and tournament 4:1. Below is a photo of the Ansford team.

Previously, on 18th November, 5 Teams took part in the Key Stage 3 Boys Badminton Champtionship Event, hosted at Whitstone School in Shepton Mallet. With Whitstone School making the most of the competition opportunity and fielding 3 teams, their A team had everything to play for to justify their selection.

During the match Frome and Sexeys both set off with strong wins and maintained the pressure right the way through the tournament. The players from Whitstone A justified their selection, beating their fellow teams from the school, but found the experience of players from the other two schools hard to cope with. The key match came down to Sexeys versus Frome, with Sexeys coming out 4:1 on top after a series of close games.

A good competition overall, with many players gaining valuable experience, but played with good team spirit by all schools.

National Inter Schools Badminton – SSP round

Emma — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:19:13 +0000

The last few weeks has seen the start of some exciting matches in the National Inter Schools Badminton SSP Round 1. With entriesÂ in all competitions increasing this year some age groups have been split into seperate pools. Schools entering teams this year were Ansford, Bucklers Mead, Frome College, Holyrood, King Arthur’s, Sexey’s, Stanchester and Whitstone. There are 4 separate competitions; the KS3 Boys, KS3 Girls, KS4 Boys and KS4 Girls.

The KS3 Boys and KS4 Boys competitions have both been played in separate pools with the winners of each coming together for a play off match to decide the winners of each competition. Both competitions saw some very exciting and closely fought matches both in with singles and doubles games.

In the KS3 Boys competition the winners of Pool A were King Arthur’s and the winners of Pool B were Sexey’s. The play off match for the KS3 Boys is getting played on the 10th December. The KS4 boys competition Pool winners were King Arthur’s and Ansford. The date for this play off game is in the process of being arranged. Well done to all the teams involved.

The KS3 Girls competition was played last Friday at Sexey’s School in Bruton. The standard of play improved throughout the day with some teams pulling off surprise performances. The final match was played between Ansford and Sexey’s with Sexey’s school coming out as overall winners. Congratulations to Sexey’s schools winning team who will now go onto represent SE Somerset SSP area at the County round of the competition which is getting played on the 23rd January 2009 in Taunton. A big thanks to all the Sexey’s School Young Leaders that helped score for the day.

The KS4 Girls Competition is getting played this Friday the 28th November.Â Pictured below are KS4 Boy Pool Winners Ansford Community School.