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Both boys and girls ranging from 9 to 18 years have been selected for county, district, academy and international squads, including Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and as far as Hong Kong. Director of Cricket Pete Sanderson said: “These students are a credit to how sports players can mix their academic studies with still developing their sporting skills. I’m extremely proud to see so many students getting recognised for their talent. They have all worked extremely hard in their different groups and...

St Swithun’s sixth form student Pernille Faye, has won a coveted music award for the second successive year. The prize, a place on the Martin Read Foundation’s 2020 Young Composers’ Scheme, gives the 17 year old access to composer mentoring and workshops. The award also includes a commission to create a four-minute piece for solo percussion which will be performed publicly at the Royal College of Music in London this April by percussionist-in-residence and RCM undergraduate Patricks Skabadis. Pernille is...

A group of Second Form pupils from Dauntsey’s spent half term in the North of Sweden on an ‘Arctic Adventure’ of a lifetime. Their base was the city of Skellefteå which was blanketed in thick snow throughout their stay, with temperatures rarely above freezing and as low as -16°C.  The pupils tackled a number of challenges including an alpine luge competition, ice fishing, cross country ski-ing, igloo building, snow shoeing, building campfires and husky sledding.  In between challenges, the pupils perfected their...

Prizes aplenty for skilful King’s Ely and Ely Cathedral Sixth Form Organ Scholar Miriam, 16, not only passed the examination for the Colleague of the Royal College of Organists (CRCO) – an achievement very rare for someone of school age for whom it was their first organ exam – but she also won numerous Royal College of Organists (RCO) prizes. Miriam, who has been a student at King’s Ely since joining in Year 9 as a member of Ely Cathedral...

15 year old Sophie Kelly, a pupil at St Swithun’s school, Winchester, has been selected to join the England squad for the upcoming U17 Netball Europe Championships. Playing the position of goal attack, Sophie, from Winchester, was part of the St Swithun’s netball team that reached the final of a national cup competition last year. She also plays regularly for her club team Weston Park Blades and for Superleague franchise Surrey Storm. One of the youngest players in the England...

Mental health charity receives bumper cheque from King’s Ely community KING’S Ely has raised more than £1,800 for a charity which supports local people who are struggling with their mental health. The substantial sum was raised through the ‘Memory Baubles Ely’ initiative, which was spearheaded by King’s Ely’s long-serving Head Receptionist, Rosie Holliday, in the run up to Christmas. Rosie launched the initiative to raise funds and awareness for Talking FreELY, a non-profit organisation which encourages open discussion about mental...

Jabari Darrell, a former boarding student at De Aston School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, has been called up to the Bermuda Men’s Cricket Squad. Jabari, who has represented Bermuda Under 19s previously, earned his first senior selection when a training squad was announced by the Bermudan Cricket Board on February 12th 2020. After arriving at De Aston School in 2016 to study for his GCSEs, Jabari wasted no time integrating into the local cricketing community. A string of impressive performances...

Old Leysian Noah Gifford, JP (School House, 2013-18) has just been appointed as one of the country’s youngest magistrates. He is pictured at Cambridge Crown Court shortly after being sworn into the judiciary at the age of just 19. Noah is studying Law at the University of Bristol, with the ambition of becoming a barrister and perhaps a judge. Although magistrates do not need any specific legal training they do receive training before sitting in court and they are allocated...

A recently-formed team of budding motorsport engineers from The Leys won two trophies in the regional finals of the F1 in Schools Team Mach 4 competition. Alex H (Y10) was team manager and CAD Design Engineer, Miles K (Y9) was design engineer, Toby G (Y9) was CAM manufacture engineer and Bobby R (Y10) was marketing and sponsorship manager. Their challenge was to design a prototype car to race down a 26- metre track, create a portfolio about it, gain sponsors...

Dauntsey’s has appointed David Hemery to its athletics coaching team.  David won a gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles in Mexico City in the 1968 Olympic Games.  He was crowned Sports Personality of the Year that year and later went into sports politics, becoming president of UK Athletics and then Vice-Chairman of the British Olympic Association.  In 2011, David became the first Briton to be awarded the European Olympic Committee’s Laurel Award for services to sport. David will work...