Eight teams from St. Bede’s consisting of 42 children took part in the District Cross Country Championships at Temple Park on Friday afternoon. The sun was certainly shining on our determined runners, who raced their way to 2nd place and District team silver medals!

 

Every race had between 40 and 70 children involved that included the best school runners in South Tyneside. Our talented children rose to the challenge and so many achieved outstanding personal best performances!

 

The Y3 children got us off to the perfect start, by claiming gold in both the boys and girls races. They also collected 4 individual medals. The good performances continued throughout the event with many children registering excellent top 15 finishes. The final race of the day saw our Y6 girl’s team also claim a brilliant team Gold.

 

A wonderful backdrop to the races was the wonderful camaraderie between our children, who enthusiastically cheered for all of their school friends. Meanwhile, it was great to see all of the positive family support, which really encouraged our young runners.

 

In the presentation, I was proud to see our children clap for all the medalists from each school, demonstrating their good sporting values. Everyone should be extremely proud of team silver overall in what was a fantastic competition.

 

It has been a pleasure looking back on the photographs that show how hard everyone tried and how keen everyone was to support their friends wearing the black and yellow of St. Bede’s. Thank you to our amazing runners for a glorious running effort and to everyone in our school community that created the brilliant supportive atmosphere on the day!

On Friday night our talented basketballers became South Tyneside Champions at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle. The players showed not only skill, but a lot of courage to perform magnificently in front of a capacity three thousand crowd!

In a round robin format we qualified for the final in first place, after convincing victories against Biddick Hall and Stanhope. However, the final against Stanhope became a closer and dramatic encounter.

We created several opportunities in the first half, but saw several shots bounce away off the rim of the basket. Stanhope then applied their own pressure and took the lead with an excellent long range shot.

However, we showed great character after conceding to force an equaliser through Mark. Neither side could score a winner, so the game had to be decided by penalties. Sharp shooter Maisie became the St. Bede’s match winner, as all her practice paid off with the winning free throw!

I was extremely proud of our children after watching them develop as a team in training, where they have shown so much dedication.  It was also wonderful to see the great family, teacher and wider school community support from South Shields, which inspired the children on a glorious night’s basketball!

Four squads of children had a great day at the Eagles Community Arena in Newcastle. Their dedication to training in recent weeks certainly showed, as they all put in fantastic team performances. Everyone encouraged their friends, while two of our teams reached the Play-Off Finals.  Our A team prevailed, and they will now go on to the District Finals to be played on the evening of 4^th March back in Newcastle.

The overriding feeling of the day was immense pride, to see the children return to competitive sport and show wonderful skill, character and camaraderie. Thank you very much to all of the parents who helped on the day.