| SKI HOLIDAY |
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| 62 boys and girls from Years 7 to 11 and 6 accompanying staff are going on a ski trip to Tignes in France in the first week of the Easter holidays. |
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| A similar size group will be going to Les Menuires next year. There are only a few places still available. Please contact Mr Tayler or Mr Mason at school. |
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| SEVENS SUCCESS |
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| The month of March has seen a hectic but extremely successful schedule for the Colston’s Senior Seven. The first tournament entered was the West of England Championship at Taunton where the team reached the final only to be taught a lesson in sevens by Millfield who triumphed 26-0. Ryan Davis, Tom Dawes and Warren Fury were the pick of the Colston’s players. A week later the squad attended the National Navy Sevens at Fyde, Blackpool and showed that lessons had been learnt. The team saved their best form for the semi-final win against Manchester Grammar winning 41 – 14 and the final against local favourites Kirkham Grammar which was won 30 -0. It was the first time Colston’s had won this prestigious tournament. Ryan Davis and Shane Geraghty were again outstanding but the key to the team’s success – defence - was ably fronted by Mitchell Horman and Kieran Geraghty. |
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| In the last week the “purple patch” had continued with another three tournaments won. Firstly at the King’s, Worcester tournament on Wednesday March 19th, then the following day at the Gloucestershire Sevens in Bristol and on Saturday March 22nd the strong Oxford University National Sevens was won for the first time. For the Worcester and Gloucester tournaments two different squads were used which shows the depth that Colston’s rugby currently possesses. At Worcester the side didn’t always play its best but when it mattered in the second half of a tense semi-final against Bromsgrove and the final against the host school King’s Worcester the Colston’s side stepped up. Bromsgrove were beaten in extra time 17-12 and Worcester 26-0. Matt Williams was the outstanding player of the tournament and Shane Geraghty again impressed. Playing in the forwards, Martyn Lever and Ollie Mansbridge also played very well. |
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| The Gloucestershire Sevens proved to be the weakest of the competitions and the squad was able to develop its tactics. The semi final against Hartbury proved the hardest game with a 19-5 win and the final resulted in a 54 – 14 thumping of Dean Close. Kieran Lewitt was a potent attacking force but again it was the whole team’s defence which other sides couldn’t cope with. Chris Brooker is also developing into a very good sevens player. |
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| Oxford was a fantastic setting for the team’s most recent success and the strength of the tournament was probably the strongest to date. Again the pool matches were easily won which led to a semi final against the successful South London school John Fisher. The team overcame a nervous start to win 4 tries to 2. The final saw Colston’s line up against “old rivals” Llandovery and eventually triumph in a pulsating match 24 – 22. The achievement of winning this fifty year old tournament for the first time cannot be overstated as the squad had to cope with some late withdrawals and was without a recognised kicker or fly half. Tom Dawes was in outstanding form and David Spiers produced some great touches particularly in the final. Jonathan Edwards was once again “Mr Reliable” at hooker. The coaches now have a very difficult task of selecting the final squad for the season ending National tournament at Rosslyn Park which the teams will enter with confidence but realizing they will have to play at their best in what is the most difficult tournament. |
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| ENGLAND U18 SCHOOOLS’ (Jan 1st Group) REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY MARCH 2003 |
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On Sunday 16th March, three Colston's School players took part in an England U18 (Jan 1st) game against the U18 England Clubs side, held at Castlecroft Stadium.
The team selected had been chosen to play against Japan at Twickenham next weekend, but unfortunately Japan withdrew from the tour of England due to the Middle East situation.
The boys selected were:
Kieron Lewitt 15 Full Back
Matthew Williams 14 Right Wing
Joshua Nowak 6 Back Row.
All three Colston’s boys were in the starting line up. Lewitt got off to a good start, with an exciting run down the left, which set up the Schools’ side first try, which Kieron Lewitt successfully converted. The next spell of play found the clubs firmly encamped on the schools try line and some stern defence by Matthew Williams kept out his opposing winger, before the scrum half dived over for a try around the inside of the scrum. The kicker failed to convert.
The Schools’ side continued to defend for a large part of the first half,with Joshua Nowak working hard to win turn over ball and clean up behind the scrum.Lewitt had another good run, side stepping several opponents and Matthew Williams had a good break, only to be grounded by the two opposition centres.At half time, the club side led 12-10.The Schools’ side started the second half with a determined flourish. The clubs side scored an unconverted try and Lewitt successfully slotted the conversion for the schools second try. Score 17-17. In the latter stages of the game, the clubs side scored again and were successful with the conversion, resulting in a 24-17 win.
The Colston’s boys will attend another England training session at Rugby before the final selection for the trip to Italy at Easter to take part in the 4 Nations U18 (Jan 1st) Rugby Festival. |
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| Jordan Crane has also been selected to play in the England U18 Schools' (Sept 1st Group) |
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| KNIGHTS AT THE THEATRE |
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Upper Sixth English A level students have made two recent visits to London theatres to see acclaimed performances by two of the country’s most distinguished actors.
First they saw Sir Derek Jacobi as Prospero in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at the Old Vic, perhaps the most celebrated theatre in the history of the British stage. The production was spectacular; it was full of spellbinding moments and performed with clarity and passion.
Then the following week they went to the Comedy Theatre to see Sir Tom Courtenay’s one-man show based on the life and writings of the poet Philip Larkin. This managed to extract far more humour than one might have expected from the notoriously miserable Larkin. Cleverly interweaving biography and poetry the show was most enjoyable and, as with the Old Vic trip, provided valuable insights into texts the students are studying for their A levels this summer. |
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| COLSTON'S U16 WIN WEST OF ENGLAND 7`s at TAUNTON |
| Sunday 9th March 2003 |
Colston`s continued their success in the Berkshire 7`s with an excellent win at the West of England tournament held in Taunton. The competition included some of the top schools in the area and was going to be a real test of character for the whole squad. In the pool games Colston`s beat the hosts Queen’s Taunton 41-7 with an excellent display of running and tackling from Ryan Woolwright in the first half and a controlled display from Mike Powell at fly half. In the second game Birchgrove pushed Colston`s right to the final few minutes when tries from Sam Caven earned a 17-17 draw. Colston`s now needed to score a lot of points to ensure that they qualified for the next round and responded well with a 62-0 win over West Buckland and 35-0 win against Wellington. Competent displays from Luke Fletcher, Pete Rowlands and good finishing from Ed Brown and Sam Caven were crucial in ensuring qualification. |
| The semi finals saw Colston`s drawn against Millfield who had won this competition on 12 previous occasions. An excellent defensive display forced Millfield into errors that were capitalised on and produced a memorable 22-5 victory. Pete Rowlands and Sam Caven were again instrumental in finishing off moves that Mike Powell and Luke Fletcher had created alongside the destructive tackling of Ian Grieve. |
| The final was a closer contest against a physical Bryanston team. Mike Powell played exceptionally well and another fine defensive display from the whole team was to prove crucial, running out 12-0 winners. |
| Colston`s are now in an excellent position for the Gloucestershire Schools Sevens next Thursday at QEH grounds at Failand and The National Sevens at Rosslyn Park in the last week of term. |
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| SUCCESSFUL SPEAKERS! |
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| On Wednesday 5th March Nicky Clarke, Sarah Hartles and Theresa Jones took part in The Rotary Club Public Speaking Competition. They competed against nine other schools from Bristol and were awarded three of the eight awards |
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| All three girls performed confidently and exhibited originality and flair. Nicky won the Chairperson's award and Sarah's impressive speech entitled "We Three Queens of Orient Are" entertained the audience immensely. Consequently, she was awarded second place as Main Speaker. All three girls demonstrated excellent team work qualities and their team was awarded second place. |
| Their performances were dynamic, engaging and intelligent. Many congratulations! |
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| COLSTON'S U16 RUGBY WIN @ Thatcham RFC |
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| Sunday 2nd March 2003 |
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| Colston`s were looking to regain the Berkshire 7`s title that they have won for the previous three years and entered this year's tournament with a strong squad capable of doing just that. Colston`s had a good pool draw and quickly got into their stride with comprehensive wins over Pangbourne (28-5), Eton (40-5) and Bloxham (35-5). Having already qualified for the semi finals Colston`s then had a minor blip against Bedford in a closely contested and physical encounter, going down 28-22 after a penalty was awarded on the final whistle that Bedford ran and scored under the posts. |
| St Edward's, winners of the other group, were Colston`s semi final opponents. Having lost in their last game the boys applied themselves very well and turned in a good defensive performance that forced the opposition into a number of errors. A controlled display from Mike Powell and outstanding defensive work from Ian Grieve and Sam Caven aided the 33-12 win. |
| Colston`s were drawn against Cheltenham College in the final which proved to be a real character test for the players. Conceding two early tries, Colston`s found themselves chasing a 12-0 score line within the first few minutes. Once again, good defence would prove to be the key. Aggressive tackling from all players created space for Pete Rowlands and Sam Caven to reduce the deficit. Player of the tournament Mike Powell controlled possession very well and Luke Fletcher had an accomplished performance at scrum half. |
| All players in the squad were used throughout the afternoon and Ryan Woolwright proved to be an effective try poacher coming off the bench. |
| Squad members: James Rothwell; Mike Powell; Ian Grieve; Luke Fletcher; Pete Rowlands; Adrian Viera; Sam Caven; Jack Andrews; Jack Underwood; Ryan Woolwright; Henry Mace; Tom Chapman
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Congratulations to all players who now have the South West Schools and Rosslyn Park National Sevens to prepare for. |
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| STAFF IN-SERVICE TRAINING |
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| On Monday 3rd March all academic staff at Colston's attended an in-service training day in school. The theme for the day was Health and Safety. There were seminars on Fire Safety and Risk Assessments. |
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Staff receiving hands-on experience of using different types of fire extinguishers during the In-Service Training Day |
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| CROSS-COUNTRY |
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| Charlotte Whittam (centre picture) the Senior Girls' Cross-Country champion with second place Katy Grey (right) and third place Lucy Hamblin (left) after today's Senior House Cross-Country.
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| The Senior Boys' Cross-Country champion was Matthew Williams (centre picture) with Ollie Pomphrey second (left) and Ricky Jones third (right). |
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| On Monday Katy Tolman won the Year 8 Girls' Cross-Country and Tom Carpenter the Year 8 Boys' Cross-Country. |
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| King's House had a clean sweep by winning both the Boys' and Girls' Senior Cross-Country and the Year 8 Boys' Championship. |
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| BASKETBALL |
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Colston’s played host to Clifton College u/18 Basketball side on Sunday. Colston’s enjoyed a good practice on Saturday morning in anticipation of Sunday’s return match against Clifton. Colston’s begun the match well and were soon in the lead by 3 points. Clifton then made some good baskets under the boards to go 14-23 ahead at half time.
The second half was entertaining and Colston’s started running the fast-break and was defending well, but Clifton proved too strong for us. Panda Tak Shun was our most valuable player with Jackie Lok and Chris Wang showing some good skills |
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| GIRLS NETBALL |
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The 1st VII Netball team |
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| Kirstie Pottier in Year 11 has been compiling regular reports on the Girls Netball matches. They can be found by following the links on the navigation bar (Sports|Girls sports) or by clicking on the photo above. |
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| EXPEDITION TO OUTER MONGOLIA 2004 |
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| The pupils who are taking part in this expedition (see article below) have developed a web site to promote this expedition. Click here to view the site. |
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| 11+ ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS |
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More than 200 young people sat the school's entrance examination on Saturday 18th January. This is the largest number of children who have ever taken part in the entrance examination and demonstrates how popular the school has become.
By 4.00 p.m. on the afternoon the staff had marked all the papers and the provisional results were compiled. During the course of the following week the overflow examination took place and all the candidates were interviewed by senior members of staff.
The results of the examination, the reports from the pupils' current school and the evidence of the interviews are currently being evaluated and parents will receive the final results on Friday 7th February. |
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| GIRLS NETBALL |
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With the netball season well under way every Year Group has made a significant contribution to the success of the girls’ performances thus far.
At the end of last year Miss Young and Mrs. Fisher purchased new netball kit for the girls: the navy blue t-shirts with a gold trimming look so smart and impressive when put into action on the court.
With two new and experienced netball coaches, Miss Gallagher and Mrs. Paterson, the training and games practices have been well received and look very promising for the teams, with this reflected in the results: the U12’s have won both of their matches convincingly against Rose Hill and St John’s. |
Miss Gallagher is also delighted: ‘A massive well done to all the netball teams for a really great start to the season. Not only have we had some really great wins but the effort and team spirit has been fantastic!’
This season will be packed full of matches as the sport teachers have arranged a number of fixtures against other schools for all the year groups. This year there has been an upsurge in interest and there are enough girls in the senior year groups to have a 3rd team which means even more fixtures. |
| We are all working towards and hoping for even more victories! |
| On Saturday 1st February there will be a feast of matches for the 1st VII, 2nd VII, U15, U14, U13, U12 taking place at Colston’s against Rendcomb College beginning at 2.30pm. There will be match reports to follow these games in the Girls’ Sport section. |
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| BRITISH SKI ACADEMY |
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| Kieran Bogira in Year 10 is taking a term out to attend the British Ski Academy at their base at Les Houches in the Chamonix valley in France. |
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| Kieran has been skiing regularly for a number of years on school ski trips, with his family and and also with the Gloucester Ski team. Kieran has emailed us to tell us about his regime in France: |
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"We get up at 7.00 and go for a run at 7.35 to warm up. We then come back and do stretching. At 8.30 we go skiing on either the Col de Vosa or the Bellevue. We ski until 1.00 and then come down the mountain.
At 2.30 we start school and work until 5.00. At 5.15 we either do fitness ski prep or video analysis.
Whilst we are at the British Ski Academy we do many races including the International Schoolboys and European Ski races. We visit many places such as Vena in Switzerland and Val Thorens in France.
Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have my first British Schoolboys race. These will take place in Switzerland and I shall be skiing for Colston's." |
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| We wish Kieran luck with these races and look forward to receiving more of his news. |
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| You can find out more about the British Ski Academy by visiting their web site. |
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| CHORAL AND SWING BAND |
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Following the very successful tour of Barcelona last year a privately produced CD has been made for members of the tour party from live recordings made in Barcelona Cathedral and Centro Civic San Marti.
Choral performances recorded in Barcelona Cathedral include Non Nobis, Domine by Quilter; Gloria by Vivaldi featuring Soprano Soloist Margaret Thomas; Make Me a Channel of Your Peace by Sebastian Temple arranged by Liz Lane; Rejoice and be Merry by Liz Lane; Locus Iste by Bruckner; A Gaelic Blessing by John Rutter; Cantique de Jean Racine by Faure.
Choral performances recorded in Centro Civic San Marti include Linden Lea by Vaughan Williams; The Ash Grove, Welsh traditional arranged by Thomas Dunhill; Bridge Over Troubled Water by Paul Simon; Love Changes Everything by Lloyd Webber.
Swing Band performances recorded at Centro Civic San Marti include Mission Impossible Theme by Lalo Schifrin; Stand by Me by Ben E King featuring Gemma Gibbs, Rosie Poustie and Jocelyn Thomas; Louie, Louie by Richard Berry. |
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| Following distribution of the CDs to tour party members and sponsors, Howard Griffiths, the Tour Administrator said: “We are delighted with the CD which is a lasting souvenir of a highly successful tour and a fitting tribute to our former Director Of Music who led the Tour, Ian Holmes.” |
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| 1st XI HOCKEY |
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The 1st XI Hockey players have trained well at the beginning of this new term and already started to show signs of improving their individual and team skills. The squad faces a tough fixture list this year and has to compete against schools that spend a lot longer training on all weather surfaces. However, under the guidance of experienced campaigner Mr. Drew and new coach Mr. Wall, optimism in the squad is high and everyone is looking forward to the first fixture against Prior Park this Thursday at UWE.
Players to look out for are Ankit Desai in defence, along with Jamie Harris and under 16 player Chris Birakos in the midfield areas. Upper Sixth players Paul Dunford and Charles Groves have the responsibility of scoring the goals up front. All squad members will have an important role to play this year if we are to improve on the results from last season. Early signs are looking good! |
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| THE NETBALL SEASON HAS ARRIVED |
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The girl's have started to get stuck into their training. In these early weeks girls will train in squads and continue to develop their footwork, marking, dodging, passing and match play. The shooters have been encouraged to get extra practice in their own time, so that the sessions can be planned around team play and set pieces.
We are running 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U15, U14, U13a&b, U12a&b teams. We have been fortunate to acquire 'cool' new netball shirts, so all the teams will look professional. The girls have had pre-season netball training throughout the Autumn term and so we are looking forward to a successful season.
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| CALENDAR FOR SPRING TERM 2003 |
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| A copy of the Spring Term Calendar can be accessed by following the link on the navigation bar to the left. Two copies of the calendar will be issued to pupils on the first day of term (one for personal use and one to be taken home). |
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| NEW STAFF |
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At the end of the Autumn Term three members of staff left Colston's to take up new appointments: Ian Holmes (Director of Music) is to become a lecturer in music at the University of the West of England; Paul Barnes (Biology) is taking up a
teaching post in New Zealand, as is Angela Troath (ICT). |
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| The new Director of Music is Stephen Bryant who is currently Assistant Director of Music at QEH. Garth Krowel will be joining us to teach ICT, and Mrs Abigail Hart will be joining the Biology Department. We wish them all a warm welcome to Colston's. |
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| REPRESENTATIVE HONOURS |
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| The South West Schools' 18-Group selectors have named a 22-strong squad which includes six players from Colston's for the opening Divisional match of the season agains the Midlands on Friday 3 January. The Colston's players are Michael Baxter, Chris Brooker, Jordan Crane, Gary Gynn, Kieron Lewitt, Martyn Lever. |
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| Following the success of both the 1st and 2nd XV's a large number of players have represented their counties. A list of these players can be found on the Rugby web pages. |
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| EXPEDITION TO OUTER MONGOLIA 2004 |
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A group of pupils in years 11 and 12 are asking for help in raising money to fund a month long expedition to Outer Mongolia as part of World Challenge. World Challenge Expedition is an educational organization working exclusively with schools, colleges and students. They operate independently of any tour operators and so are only constrained by safety and the imagination of challengers.
The pupils are hoping to take part in one of these challenges in 2004. Part of the challenge involves helping underprivileged people from third world countries and allows us to give something to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Please contact Claire Timbrell (Lower Sixth) at Colston's if you have any donations or fund raising ideas. They would be greatly appreciated as the pupils are all very much looking forward to this rewarding and unique experience.
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| NEW YEAR CALENDAR |
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| The sixth form rugby boys calendar 2003 will be on sale at the very beginning of next term, priced £7.50. All proceeds go to PDSA, a charity that aids sick and homeless animals across the country. These are limited editions and demand is expected to be very high. You can buy your copy in the Bishop’s Palace during lunchtimes as soon as school returns in January, so start saving your Christmas pennies now! Further details from Claire Timbrell (Lower Sixth). |
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| NEW CCF WEB PAGES |
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| Colston's CCF is currently enjoying fantastic success and popularity. Andrew Wareing and Adeel Nadeem have developed a web site especially for the CCF. The link to the web pages can be found on the navigation bar to the left under DEPARTMENTS | CCF or can be accessed here |
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| SIXTH FORM GIRLS SHINE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITIONS |
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Two members of the Lower Sixth, Lara Bell and Lucinda Davies, represented the school in the Cambridge Union Debating Competition. They were asked to propose the motion “This house would make voting compulsory”. Their speeches were well researched, intelligent and persuasive and they confidently answered all questions from the audience.We must also congratulate Nicola Hill for her outstanding performance in the Bristol Gabblers’ Competition. Her speech, entitled “Shooting Stars”, was humorous and reflective. We wish her the very best of luck in the next round of the competition.
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