Last week saw the return of Sports Day here at the Friary school. Each year group completed a variety of athletic events to win the Sports Day cup held by Johnson House.
Monday began with our Year 7 cohort all putting 100% into their events. Garrick got themselves off to a slow start by winning 129 points. 29 points behind Johnson who were early leaders in the week.
Tuesday saw the Year 8s having their turn. A notable performance from Rhys Wynne saw him crowned 100m champion with a time of 12 seconds flat for Seward House. This strong performance was backed up by numerous other Seward athletes who found themselves coming 2nd in the Year 8 points tally. Unfortunately, Johnson and Darwin couldn’t prevent Garrick House from mounting a memorable comeback getting 155 points on the day.
Day 3 involved Year 9 with it all to play for. Some impressive field events early on in the day set Seward House up for a late charge at the title however strong performances on the track from Darwin and Garrick ensured Seward weren’t able to complete the comeback.
Then we saw the eagerly awaited return of the Sixth Form and staff tug-of-war. A first and second place for Garrick was enough to see them extend their lead further despite all rounds being evenly matched.
Thursday was the final day of competition. Our Year 10 cohort were extremely focused on their jobs and Mr Cartner and the other Garrick tutors ensured the Garrick athletes were prepped and raring to go. New 100m records were set by Seward’s Thomas Larkin (11.10 secs) and Garrick’s Emily Beddow (12.83secs) which were amazing to see. Johnson mounted a late fight back winning the day with 138 points leaving Garrick, Darwin and Seward all sweating over their final positions in the standings.
However, despite a lot of hard work and enthusiasm across the Houses, Garrick had got themselves into an unassailable lead earlier in the week and ran out worthy victors.
Final Standings:
1st – Garrick – 649 points
2nd – Johnson – 596 points
3rd – Seward – 571 points
4th – Darwin – 559 points
Sam Foster, Head of Performance & Technologies, said: “It was a different Sports Day due to the maintenance of bubbles but is still worked well and the suspense through the week built up superbly. Garrick House were worthy winners and a lot of individuals have every reason to be very proud.”
Matt Allman, Headteacher, said: “The easy option was to cancel Sports Day but we are not a school that rushes to the easy option. Our PE team and House leaders did an amazing job at making this work and the success of the event only shines a light on the absolute commitment of our staff. COVID does affect learning, but school is also about memories like this, and we will fight just as hard for them as much as any Macbeth quote or Science experiment.”
