Since winning the Worthing Girls Cricket tournament, the Vale have continued their winning streak and won the county event at Blackstone, and then at Regent's Park in the South East competition. They then went into the National finals at Headingly and finished 5th.
They also won the 20/20 cup at Horsham to become county champions and the Arundel Castle County Competition.

Well done girls!
Joe Todd PE Co-ordinator The Vale

Well done to all the Midday Meal Supervisors and Teaching Assistants at Thomas a Becket First School who have successfully undertaken and implemented the Positive Play Scheme.

The course consisted of both theory and practical content and was met with enthusiasm from all those involved. The scheme’s success in the school is therefore assured, and the pupils of T.A.B First School can now look forward to their break times being an exciting, stimulating and invigorating environment to play in. Thanks go to all the staff involved in the morning with a particular mention going to Rachel Daniels for her faultless organisational skills, and John Cleaver for his resolute support throughout.

Richard Morris
SSCo Worthing High School

In December Worthing High School played host to some of Britain’s new breed of Olympians. 70 talented and gifted sportsmen and women from Thomas a Becket Middle School and The Vale enjoyed a morning of rugby, basketball, dance and gymnastics.

After a morning full of skills, drills and games, the students were treated to a gymnastic and dance performance. The morning was an unforgettable experience for everyone; all students involved displayed a fantastic attitude throughout with all the coaches commenting on how impressed they were with what they had seen. Thanks go to our ever versatile PDM, Jon Mills (Rugby), Sam Wilcox (Gym), Danny Hildreth (Basketball) and Gemma Dodds (Dance) for their first rate instruction, and finally, a particular mention to Joe Todd, James Garner and all the parents for dealing with the logistics of the morning.

Richard Morris
SSCo Worthing High School

Saturday 22nd November saw over 600 primary and middle school children taking part in the Worthing Cross Country at the "Gallops". The weather was dry and sunny and the day was a great success!
Team winners this year were TAB across the board however individual race winners were:
Yr 4 Girls - Olivia Cary (St Margarets)
Yr 4 Boys - Ed Taylor (TAB)
Yr 5 Girls - Bintu Freeman (Orchards)
Yr 5 Boys - Sam Hyde (TAB)
Yr 6 Girls - Hanah Buckthorpe (Orchards)
Yr 6 Boys - Luke Geatherstone (TAB)
Yr 7 Girls - India Spoor (Vale)
Yr 7 Boys - Sam Murray (TAB)

There potentially will be a County Cross Country event running this year as a follow up. I will be in touch with schools as soon as I have more details on this.

Congratulations to everyone who took part, it was great to see so many people there! A big thank you to all the team managers and helpers for giving up their Saturday and ensuring the event ran smoothly.

Many Thanks
Elle Ford Competition Manager

Sixty pupils from the Vale, Thomas a Becket and West Park enjoyed an afternoon of leadership training at Durrington High School. After a collective introduction about the qualities of a ‘good’ leader, pupils followed a carousel of activities exploring communication, the role of the official and organising an activity. Each of the carousel topics were led by year 11 JSLA students from Angmering.

This was the first time the partnership had explored the idea of year 11’s training KS3 leaders and the concept worked very well, essentially due to the excellent delivery by the Year 11 Angmering JSLA students.

The key stage 3 students have now been set the challenge of organising their own sport activity and umpiring a small sided game. Success verified by staff will allow the words ‘sports leaders’ to be added to their PE shirts!

Thanks to Sarah Potter and Pete Gwynn at Angmering for their support in this venture.

Ali Groves

Indoor Athletes from Thomas A Becket Middle School in Tarring, reached a new high last Wednesday as they won the inaugural County Championship.

As champions of Worthing and the Southern Area Sports Partnership, Thomas A Becket came together at Sussex University with the champions of eight other regions to fight for the right to be named the first ever ‘Sussex Schools Sportshall Athletics Champions’.

A team of 30 athletes aged 9-11 competed in a series of running and field events gathering points for their squad. Team spirit and technical expertise, most notably with some fantastic relay baton changing, saw the blues from Becket win 15 out a possible 24 events, pushing Harlands from Haywards Heath into second place by a massive 102 points.

YEAR 7 RESULTS:
1st THOMAS A BECKET -672 pts
2nd HARLANDS -570 pts
3rd COPTHORNE -562 pts
4th MILE OAK -536 pts
5th BEXHILL -528 pts
6th MILTON MOUNT -496 pts
7th HERON WAY -492 pts
8th ST FRANCIS -478 pts
9th ROBERTSBRIDGE -450 pts

Even amongst all the many school sporting achievements this one is particularly special, commented Head of PE Mark Duncan. “To be able to say you’re the best in the county is rare for anyone, and is a real testament to the hard work of all the children and staff. A special thank-you must also to go to Alan Denyer of Worthing Harriers for his expert coaching and unbridled enthusiasm.

Thomas A Becket will now enter unchartered territory by flying the Sussex flag at the South-East Regional Finals in January.
Mark Duncan - Head of PE

Two of the biggest events of the sporting calendar took place this week, the Worthing Schools Cross Country and the Southern Area Partnership Senior Swimming Gala.

The cross country event, at the Gallops hosted by the Vale school, saw over 700 pupils aged between seven to eleven compete for their school in the physically challenging event of cross country running.

The event was superbly managed and co-ordinated by Ali Groves with assistance from Debbie Webb (still on maternity … but coming back) who took up the challenge at short notice and ensured that yet another quality sporting event for our pupils took place.

An early start for officials and competitors on a damp, drizzly November Saturday. The course was up, coffee on sale, marshalls in place, BANG the first race underway.

On a testing course the athletes were superb. There were some great individual performances and cohesive team performances. Despite difficult conditions all eight races were very competitive, entertaining and fantastically supported by parents and staff.
Individual honours:
Girls Boys
Year 4 Amelia Musgrave (St Margs) Sam Hyde (TAB)
Year 5 Hannah Buckthorpe (Orchards)Luke Featherstone (TAB)
Year 6 India Spoor (Vale) Sam Marsden (Orchards)
Year 7 Katie Burling (TAB) Harry Tillman (Broadwater)

Huge congratulations to all teams that entered, but once again honours go to Thomas A Becket who for the third time in 4 years won every age group, boys and girls. Well done TAB and all their runners.

A big thank you to all SSCo’s who helped on the day, Sarah and Richard, to the Vale staff for refreshments and marshalling duties, all members of staff for bringing their teams and marshalling, the Mills family who were press ganged into duty and to Ali G, who has now achieved her ambition of becoming a centrefold (Worthing Herald this week … Miss Drizzly November) for organising the event.
Jon

Teamwork was the key to success at the Vale on Tuesday 12th June, as a number of Year 7s were put through their paces both physically and mentally!

The morning consisted of a variety of Problem Solving activities, each one requiring the pupils to pool together their individual talents and work as one in order to successfully complete the set tasks.

All pupils (and Assistant Heads!) involved rose to the challenges set, exhibiting excellent teamwork throughout. Special mention goes to Emma Uden and Jack Strachen, who both displayed great leadership qualities. Special thanks goes to Mrs Head and Mr Everett at the Vale.

Richard Morris
SSCo Worthing High

A timely end to monsoon season saw Thomas A Becket Middle School bathed in sunshine for this years Year 7 six-a-side tournament. An uncomplicated group phase saw four teams put themselves forwards as potential tournament winners. Vale, Orchards, Durrington and West Park all won their groups with some degree of comfort playing some excellent football.

If the group phase was straightforward, the Cup quarter-finals were anything but. Three penalty shuffle shootouts – two going to sudden death - were required to separate the teams, North Lancing, Chesswood and much fancied West Park the unlucky victims. Hosts Thomas A Becket were able to secure a smoother ride into the last four by surprising the inform Vale team 2-0.

Last years champions Manor Hall saw their reign come to an end in the semi-finals, unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by an ever-improving Durrington team 4-0. In the other semi, TAB were able to knockout another of the tournaments hot tickets with yet another epic shootout ending the Orchard’s competition.

An exciting final saw the Becket make much the stronger start. With confidence and energy high, the hosts set about attacking Durrington, safe in the knowledge that their defence had yet to be beaten on the day. However the introduction of Andy Cole, somewhat surprisingly (or cunningly) from the bench changed the game. Cole was able to convert his own free kick just after halftime to break the deadlock, and followed this up with another goal soon after to make it 2-0. This was enough to seal a first year 7 six-a-side victory for Durrington since 1988, another piece of silverware to add to last years shield. Andy Cole was justifiably named man-of-the-match.

The shield quarter-finals were far more cut and dry with some 14 goals scored, Downsbrook bursting into life with 5 of them after three scoreless matches in the group phase. Two tightly contested semi-final matches saw Downsbrook edge out last years Cup runners-up Angmering, while Glebe overcame Broadwater CE. An exciting end-to-end final was ultimately won in style by Glebe over Downsbook, Josh Bidwell named man-of-the-match.

James Lelliott of Broadwater CE was named player-of-the-day for his combination of leadership, sportsmanship and skill as well as scoring what must have been goal of the tournament. Thanks to everyone who was involved in any capacity for helping to make it a fantastic morning.
Mark Duncan : Thomas a Becket Middle School

Yr6/7 pupils from the Vale and Thomas a Becket Middle Schools enjoyed a morning of basketball, gymnastics and rugby at Worthing High School. The morning, organised by the SSCO was structured to identify talent as well as providing staff Inset.
Pupils had an excellent time with the morning ending with a fantastic gymnastic display. Thanks go to the two new community coaches Sam Wilcox (gymnastics) and Rob Newson (basketball) and our ever versatile Jon Mills.