But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 
(Isiah 40:31)

Sport - Corona Page

Physical activity not only improves health, reduces stress and improves concentration but also promotes correct physical growth and development. At Longstone School we value the wide range of benefits that physical education can bring our children. Our children participate in formal PE lessons as well as a range of in-school and after school sports clubs and competitions.

Longstone Pupils continue to perform at an exceptionally high standard.

What a busy and successful year we have had so far . Take a look at the medal haul below and the lovely photographs to illustrate the joy, excitement, skill, determination and pride that the children show at these wonderful sports events

Year 5 & 6 Cluster Cricket Tournament
Youlgreave Playing Fields
Thursday, 18th May

All of Year 5 & 6 went to Youlgreave to take part in the Cluster Cricket Event.  We entered 2 teams into the Cricket Tournament and the rest of the class took part in cricket themed activities.  The tournament was very exciting, with lots of runs scored and plenty of wickets taken too - by some amazing  catches and some excellent bowling, including very accurate overarm bowling.  The Dynamos Cricket format is great, as all the children have to bat, bowl and field and they rotate round.  The children involved in the festival improved their small ball throwing and catching skills and enjoyed working with children from other schools.  
It was an excellent afternoon of cricket and we were delighted to find out at the end that Longstone 'A' team were the overall winners of the tournament and so picked up another trophy.  Well done to all the children - once again it was a great afternoon of sport.

Year 2 FUNdamentals
Whitworth Park, Darley Dale
Tuesday, 16th May

Year 2 had a fabulous afternoon of sport at Whitworth Park.  They took part in tennis activities, including a great 'Battleships' game, which improved their aiming skills:  football games:  chasing games with a 'twist' - the 'catchers' had to hop to catch and the players could only jump to get away! One of the favourite activities was the dance, as they got to copy dance moves and then 'freestyle' - always a favourite.  They enjoyed all the activities, learnt a lot and did not stop running all afternoon.  When I asked them what they had enjoyed the most, many of them said all of it.  I was very proud of how much effort they put in and what amazing ambassadors for the school they were - exemplary behaviour and they mixed brilliantly with the children from the other schools.  Well done Year 2!

Year 4 Tennis Tournament and Festival
Baslow Recreation Ground
Thursday, 11th May

  Just the 9, Year 4 children went to Baslow to take part in this event.  It was pouring with rain as we left school, so we were hoping that would change during the afternoon and luckily it did - the sun came out!  Four of the children took part in a mini tennis tournament and the other 5 did a circuit of tennis based activities to improve their skills:  these children had a brilliant time and said they had all learnt so much, improved and had lots of fun - perfect.  The tournament was quite challenging, as the children had to 'serve' to start the game and then 'return' the ball on a very small court!  I was 'blown away' with their perseverance and resilience - never giving up.  The improvement they all made during the tournament was amazing and they just grew in confidence.  By the last few games, there were proper 'rallies' happening between the teams and it was a great atmosphere, with the children from all the schools getting on really well and clearly having fun together.  After the last game, there was a brief wait whilst the scores were added up and we were delighted to hear that Longstone were the overall winners of the tournament with Bakewell Juniors being the 'runners up.'  I was so proud of how much all the Year 4's improved during this fun afternoon of tennis.  Well done!

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Year 3 Summer Sports Festival
Youlgreave School
Thursday, 27th April

The Year 3 children were very excited to be involved in this event, which was a mix of different sports:  Rounders skills, Tennis skills, Golf skills, Athletics skills and Tai Chi.  It was great to arrive at Youlgreave School with such enthusiastic children, who could not wait to get started.  We were joined together with Bakewell School and some of the children knew each other and so during the activities they mixed up really well.  We started off with rounders and it was great to see the children striking the ball with confidence.  One of the children's favourites was the Athletics skills, as they got to go over and under equipment in different ways - cartwheels were a favourite!!  I was very impressed with the children during the Tennis skills, as they answered all the questions, knowing that tennis involves coordination, agility and balance skills.  We finished with Tai Chi, which they loved (a favourite for Mrs Reeves too!) It was a great afternoon and one of the children said - " It was the best day ever."  What a fabulous afternoon of sport.

Year 5 SSOC Training
Anthony Gell School
Wednesday, 26th April

All of Year 5 attended the SSOC - School Sports Organising Crew Training at Anthony Gell School.  They worked together in groups to find out what qualities make a good leader, what roles we have to 'take on' for example promoter, referee, scorer, instructor, in order to lead and they made up and planned games with children from other schools, using limited equipment.  Some of the children then had to lead the rest of the group and teach them their chosen game and they all took on roles such as being a referee to help with this.  They also got a chance to be led and enjoyed playing lots of different games.  I was really impressed with how the Longstone children became increasingly more confident during the training and by the end of it were all willingly contributing their ideas and were very much part of the session.  
We are going to plan, teach and play some games to the younger children during lunch times this term, so that they can practice the skills they have learnt.  They will then be able to continue this when they move into Year 6 and also help at some of the sports events and help to run Inter-House sport next year.  Well done Year 5!

Year 5 & 6 County Indoor Athletics Finals
Derby College, Broomfield Site
Monday, 24th April

Having won the SSP Event, back in February, the Year 5 & 6 Team travelled to Derby to compete in the County Finals.  They were competing against 5 other schools - each of the winners of their SSP Final from within the County (over 90 schools across Derbyshire took part in the different 'rounds.')  On arriving at Derby College, the children seemed very nervous and took a little while to settle into their warm-up skills:  It's always hard to compete somewhere new and with schools that they have never competed against before, so they were glad they had a chance to practise their 'field' events before the competition started.  They soon relaxed and confidently took themselves off to their different 'field' events, made up of: Standing-Long-Jump, Standing-Triple-Jump, Vertical Jump, Speed Bounce, Chest Push and Javelin.  After a short gap, the running events began: always a favourite for the Longstone pupils.  There were 2 'heats' for each race, each heat being timed, so it was important that even if they were winning their race, they should not slow down, as they had no idea how fast the other heat was!  They all ran superbly and in the over/under and obstacle races, their agility and speed was amazing.  We were dominant in the 1 lap by 2 people, 2 laps by 2 people & 1 lap by 4 people relays, with excellent technique on the 'turning boards' and efficient baton exchanges.
After another short break, we nervously waited for the results and because of the 'nature' of the event, we had no idea of where we had finished.  Mr Bethell announced the teams in 4th/5th and 6th place & we were delighted that we did not feature:  this meant that what ever happened we would receive a medal, as we must have finished in 3rd/2nd or 1st place.  We waited.... 3rd place was announced - Curzon School, 2nd place was announced - Bramley Vale School, so YES, Longstone had won the whole event and by 20 points.  We could not believe it - what an amazing achievement.  I was so very proud to watch the children go up and receive their gold medals - they certainly deserved them. 
Later, I received the break down of the results and we won all the field events, apart from the Javelin and we won 3 out of the 5 running events and were 2nd in the other 2 events - unbelievable results.
Well done to the children who took part in this event - I am so proud of you all.

Year 5 & 6 Netball Finals
Lady Manners School
Wednesday, 29th March

Having won the Cluster event of the Netball, we went through to compete in the SSP finals.  This was quite a challenge, as the rules were slightly different, with regard to the numbers of boys and girls in the squad and the children had to rotate positions after each game:  always interesting, as you can end up playing a position that perhaps you are not so confident in.  After a slightly 'shaky' start in our first game, with a few passing errors (we were a little nervous), we soon settled down and the team displayed some excellent passing skills, team work and sportsmanship.  They won their first game 6-1 and then went on to win 3 out of the 4 other games they played, gaining confidence in each game.  The level of Netball from all the schools was very high and it was a very friendly event.  We were not sure where we would finish overall, as we did not know how the other schools had played and so we were delighted when the results were announced and we had won, 'pipping' Osmaston (our biggest rivals) and gaining 1st place medals.  The team will now go on and compete at the County Netball finals - an amazing achievement. Well done to all the players.

Year 5 & 6 Hockey & Quad kids Tournament
Bishop Pursglove School, Tideswell
Thursday, 23rd March

We entered 2 teams into this event which was a combination of a Hockey Tournament and Quad kids Athletics Events.  The children enjoyed taking part in the 4 Athletic activities which consisted of a 600m run, a 75m sprint, the howler throw and standing long jump, many of them doing the events twice to try and improve their PBs. The Hockey Tournament is always an interesting event, as the hockey is Unihoc, played with plastic hockey sticks, and as we play 'field' hockey with 'real' sticks, we have to adapt, as it is quite a different game.  This did not seem to cause too many problems for the Longstone teams who won all their games in the group stages.  The 'A' team then played against Bishop Pursglove 'A' in one semi- final and won 2-0 and the 'B' team played against Baslow 'A' in the other semi-final and won 2-1.  This meant the 'A' and 'B' Longstone teams met each other in the final.  It was a very closely contested game, with the 'A' team just clinching the win by 1 goal!  Once again a great set of results with Longstone 'A' being the winners of the whole tournament and Longstone' B' the runners up.  All the children played brilliantly and once again their sportsmanship was fabulous.  Well done!

Year 5 & 6 'High 5' Netball
Longstone School
Thursday, 16th March

All of the Year 5 & 6 children took part in this event, with 3 teams playing in the tournament and some children taking part in a festival of netball skill based activities, which they really enjoyed.  The level of Netball skills shown by all the Longstone pupils was extremely high and they certainly all knew the rules and their 'footwork' and passing skills were excellent.  After some great games in the group stages, it ended up with Longstone 'A' playing against Bakewell 'B' in the first semi-final, with Longstone 'A' winning 7-0.  The other semi-final was between Longstone 'B' and Bakewell 'C,' with Longstone 'B' winning 4-0.  This meant that Longstone 'A' played against Longstone 'B' in the final.  This was a very close game, but the 'A' team were just victorious with a 2-1 win and so won the whole tournament.  The 'C' team then played in a 3rd/4th play-off against Bakewell 'A' and won 2-1.  
A pretty impressive set of results, with the Longstone teams finishing in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall - wow!  The level of sportsmanship shown by all the Longstone children was fabulous to see, both towards their own team-mates and the other teams.  Well done to all the Year 5 and 6 children for displaying excellent netball skills and superb sportsmanship.

Year 1 FUNdamentals Afternoon
Bamford Tennis Club
Wednesday, 15th March

A great afternoon of fun activities for all of our Year 1 children at Bamford Tennis Club, organised by the SSP.  They got to take part in Tai Chi. Tennis, Orienteering and relay games organised by the Play Leaders from Bamford School.  The children had a fabulous time and were very engaged in the activities and enjoyed learning some new skills.  Their behaviour was outstanding throughout the afternoon and they all said thank you to the coaches and leaders, without being prompted - they were a real credit to Longstone School -  I was very proud of them all.

Year 5 & 6 Pentathlon
Hope Valley College
Tuesday, 14th March

Eight Year 5 & 6 pupils took part in this event and it was great to go somewhere new!  As we arrived early, we had the chance to watch a Year 11 Netball Match and pick up a few tips for our 'High 5' Tournament later in the week - we were good at picking them up on the rules!!  It was then time for the Pentathlon Activities - not quite a pentathlon - actually 8 Sports Hall Athletics Events!  (running, jumping and throwing activities).  The aim of the afternoon was for the children to try each of the activities and record their PB's and then try and improve on them during the rest of the afternoon - and they all did!  We had some fabulous jump PB's with some good coaching tips from one of the teachers who used to compete in County Triple Jump.  Our sprint times improved throughout the afternoon, as did our throwing technique and we certainly worked hard at having the fastest agility time scores.  A great afternoon of non-stop activity and lots of PB's to try and improve on back at school.

County Cross Country Finals
Holmebrook Valley Park, Chesterfield
Monday, 6th March

With the Year 3/4 Girls Team finishing 2nd and the Year 5/6 Boys Team finishing 1st in the SSP Cross Country Finals, both teams progressed to the County Finals, in which over 250 pupils from all over Derbyshire competed in.  It was a very cold, wet day, but this did not seem to bother the 'tough' Longstone pupils.  Having 'walked' the course - 1.2km for Year 3/4 and 1.5km for Year 5/6, we watched the Year 3/4 boys race and then it was our girls turn to run.  We positioned the supporting parents on different sections of the course, so that we could cheer them on.  They all ran superbly, running their own race and each one of them finishing with a sprint finish.  They all finished in the top 20 out of 64 runners, with one runner finishing in 2nd place overall and then the others finishing in 8th, 13th and 16th place.  Next was the turn of the Year 5/6 Team who also ran superbly in difficult conditions, with the icy rain blowing in their faces.  Once again, they powered through and all managed to finish strongly.  They finished in 9th, 17th, 23rd and 30th out of 54 runners.  We then waited for the presentation, not really knowing how we had done overall!  We were delighted to hear that the girls team finished in 2nd place overall out of 13 teams and the boys team finished in 3rd place overall out of 11 teams.  These results are outstanding against much bigger schools and I am so proud of how well they all ran.  I was also so impressed with how supportive they were of each other and were a real credit to Longstone School.  Well done to all of them - I am a very proud PE Teacher.

Year 5/6 Indoor Athletics Finals
Anthony Gell School
Wednesday, 15th February

Having taken part in the CLUSTER event and won it, the team got through to the 2nd round of the Indoor Athletics Event. The team was made up of 8 pupils (4 boys and 4 girls) and after having to make 2 changes first thing in the morning, due to 2 children being off ill, the others had to adapt quickly to some changes in the events they were going to take part in.  The competition started off with all the field events first and it was great to see the Longstone pupils performing so well in the standing long-jump, standing triple-jump, vertical jump and speed bounce, securing the 'top spot' in all these events.  The throwing events - javelin and chest push proved to be a bit more challenging for us - something to work on for future events, but the children still gave it 100%.  The track events followed the field events and once again Longstone showed how strong their running is and how confidently they use the 'turning boards.'  We then waited patiently for the overall results, not really knowing where we might have finished, as each running event had 2 heats, so the fastest times got the most points, so until the end we had no idea!!  It was worth the wait, as the results were what we hoped for - we were the overall winners, with Wessington and Stanton finishing in 2nd place.  We will now go on to compete at the County Competition - an amazing achievement - well done to all those who took part yesterday.

Year 5/6 Basketball
Anthony Gell School
Thursday 9th February

Despite not having a CLUSTER event for Basketball, we got the opportunity to send a team to the SSP Basketball Tournament.  Seven boys, who have attended the lunch-time and after school Invasion Games Club, at which we have played some Basketball took part in this competition.  The standard of Basketball was excellent, despite at times being a bit more like rugby!  We got off to a great start, winning our first 2 games.  We then drew a game and narrowly lost our final game.  The top 2 teams finished up with equal points and so the overall winners were decided by the total number of baskets scored throughout the whole tournament - unfortunately, Ashbourne scored 1 more basket than us and so the Longstone team finished up as runners up of the whole tournament - still an amazing achievement in a sport that we don't play that much of.  Well done to all the boys who played.

Year 5/6 Wheelchair Basketball
Anthony Gell School
Thursday, 2nd February

This event was organised through the SSP and was a fabulous opportunity for 10 pupils to try something very different.  As none of them had ever tried it before, it was also good as they all started out at the same level.  They were taught how to move in the wheelchair, how to do a 360 spin - a pivot, how to pick up a basketball using the wheel of the chair and how to dribble the ball and pass to team mates.  They also played 'musical statues' in the wheelchairs - much harder than it sounds.  Once they had practiced the skills, they played mini matches in small teams.  They all really enjoyed the experience and one pupil said it was 'just the best experience she had ever had!'

Update on the Cross-Country Finals - Team Results

The team results have been confirmed and brilliant news, the Year 3/4 girls were placed 2nd overall out of 12 teams and so picked up silver medals and the Year 5/6 boys were placed 1st overall out of 12 teams and so picked up gold medals.  The Year5/6 boys team will now go on to compete at the County Tournament in March - a fabulous achievement.  Once again, well done to all the runners, but in particular the Year3/4 girls and Year 5/6 boys.

Year 3/4 & Year 5/6 SSP Cross-Country Finals
Whitworth Park, Darley Dale
Tuesday 31st January

Having taken part in the CLUSTER cross-country event back in September, a number of our children were selected to take part in the next round, which was due to be back in November, but got postponed due to bad weather. Sixteen excited children from Year 3/4 & Year 5/6 took part, each competing both individually and as a team, by age group and gender.  There were over 60 children taking part in each of the different races, from schools all across Derbyshire.  The Year 3/4 children ran aprrox. 1km and the Year 5/6 children ran approx. 1.5km - both races included a hill and with the very strong wind, against them, it was tough.  Many of our children finished in the top 20 in their races and Keira (Year 4) was 2nd overall in the Year 3 & 4 girls race, picking up a silver medal for her efforts - a fabulous achievement.  I was so proud of how they all ran and how they supported each other - lots of fabulous cheering.  It was also great to have so many parents supporting at this event - thank you for coming and cheering for all our runners.  Well done to all the children that took part in this event - you are all superstars!

Year 5/6 Sports Hall Athletics
Graves Sports Centre, Sheffield
Thursday 26th January

Always a favourite for the children and the teachers in the sporting calendar.  Eleven, Year 5 & 6 pupils took part in this event at Graves Sports Centre.  They were very excited as we walked into the hall, at the size of the venue and the set up of all the equipment.  After a quick introduction from Mr Pearson, they all went off to their 'field' events, which included standing-long-jump, standing-triple-jump, javelin, basketball push, speed bounce and vertical jump.  There were some amazing performances from all the pupils, including Oliver Bar winning the speed bounce, Ethan D, Seb and Bethany being 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the vertical jump and Oliver But winning both the standing-long-jump and the standing-triple-jump - in fact with the standing-triple-jump he jumped off the end of the recording mat! - a huge jump.
After all the 'field' events were completed, the relays began, which included an obstacle relay, an over and under relay and 3 different 'lap' relays.  The Longstone children were 'on fire' and won 4 out of the 5 relays, only missing out on winning one of them, due to a fumble of the baton on the change-over!  They were amazing to watch and the encouragement from each and every one of them, either from the sidelines or amongst their team whilst running the race, was fabulous to see.  Whilst the final scores were being calculated, the pupils took part in a whole team relay round the whole Sports Hall - this was very exciting to watch and once again the Longstone team were victorious.

Year 3/4 Dodge Ball
Bakewell Junior School
Thursday 10th November

We took all the Year 3 and 4 children to this event - a favourite on the CLUSTER calendar. We entered 3 teams into the tournament and they all played brilliantly and most importantly were extremely honest - very necessary in the game of dodgeball.  A number of adults helping at the event commented on how honest the Longstone children were, which made me extremely proud.  The 'C' team played really well, improving with every game and finished 2nd in their group.  The 'B' and 'A' teams both won their groups and went on to play in the semi-finals, finishing 1st and 2nd.  After taking part in skilled based dodgeball activities, which were a lot of fun and non-stop, the time had come for the final to be played between the 2 winners of the semi-finals from each competition: Longstone 'A' 'v' Youlgreave 'A.'  This was very  intense and exciting - we could not wait to find out the result (they were playing inside!)  As the 'A' Team appeared round the corner, we knew the result!  - yes, they had won the competition overall.  We were so proud of all the Year 3 and 4 children and how they played - it really was a team effort.  Well done!

Year 5/6 Tag Rugby
Longstone School
Thursday 20th October 2022

Two teams took part in this event, made up of the children that attend the Tag Rugby lunchtime club.  It was a bit of a miserable day, with it raining all morning, but this did not put the Longstone children off!  The standard of tag rugby was excellent from all the children and the buzz on the Rec was great to hear - all the children from all the schools were clearly enjoying the event.  Our 'B' Team played brilliantly, winning 1 game and losing 2 games.  The 'A' Team won all their games in their group matches, with the score of 7 being their lucky number - every game they played they won with 7 points!!  They went on to face Baslow 'A' in the final.  This was a very 'tight' match and could have been won by either team.  Luckily though with 30 seconds to go, the Longstone team gained possession and managed to score the final 'try' of the tournament, winning the game 6-5 and meaning they were the overall winners of the tournament.  Well done to all the children who took part in this tournament.

Year 2 Football
Bishop Pursglove School
Thursday 13th Ocotober 2022

What a fabulous afternoon all of our Year 2 children had when they took part in the CLUSTER Football Tournament at Tideswell.  Many of these children have not played that much football, but they certainly improved during the afternoon and learnt some new skills, by taking part in skill based activities and a mini tournament.  They were not short of enthusiasm and a number of them managed to score some goals and they had to save a number of goals too!  We are very proud of them all and what great ambassadors they were for Longstone School - well done Year 2!

Year 5/6 SSP Football Finals
Highfields School
Wednesday 12th October 2022

Having won the CLUSTER Event, nine Year 5/6 boys represented the school at the next round.  The standard of football is always very high at the 2nd round and the boys played some excellent football; they won their first game 3-1 against Ashbourne, drew their next game 1-1 against Lea.  Making it through to the semi-finals, they faced All Saints, Darley Dale.  Both teams played fabulous football and it could have gone either way, but Darley Dale managed to secure a win of 2-1 and went on to be the overall winners of the tournament - at least we lost to the eventual winners!  I was impressed with how all the boys played and in particular their support of each other, both on and off the pitch - great team work boys - well done!

'This Girl Can'
Longstone School
Tuesday 4th October 2022

All of our Year 5 & 6 Girls took part in this event held at our school.  It was organised by SSP and was a chance for girls to take part in sports they may not have tried before, alongside other girls.  The girls took part in cricket, tag rugby and dance.  After the event the girls all said that they had enjoyed all of the activities, in particular the dance.  I was very impressed with how enthusiastic all the girls were and they gave a fabulous account of the event during the Celebration Assembly - they clearly had enjoyed it.  Two of the girls were interviewed by the organisers, for them to gain feedback from the event and how to improve it in the future.  I was amazed at how confident the girls were and when asked which activity they had enjoyed the most, they both replied 'all of them!'  It certainly was a worth while event.

Year 1-6 Cross Country
Bakewell Junior School
Thursday 29th September 2022

Always a favourite in the Longstone sport calendar, as with the exception of Reception it is a whole school event.  89 children travelled by bus to Bakewell Juniors to take part.  Every child ran in their year group races and they also took part in running based activities on the playground.  It started off with the Year 1 & 2 children running 600m, followed by the Year3 & 4 children running 1.2km and finally the Year 5 & 6 children running 1.5km.  It was impressive watching all the children try their best and show great perseverance and resilience.  It was also fabulous to see the support from the rest of the school when each group was running - a real whole school team effort.  We had two children finish in 1st place overall in their races, a couple finish in 3rd & 4th places and numerous children finish in the top 10 - wow!
We had amazing team results in each of the year group categories: (placing in the top 3 in each of the age groups)
Year 1/2 Boys                                                  Year 1/2 Girls
3rd                                                                       2nd
Year 3/4 Boys                                                  Year 3/4 Girls
3rd                                                                       1st
Year 5/6 Boys                                                  Year 5/6 Girls
1st                                                                        3rd
The children also received the trophy for 'self belief' - this is something we work on so we were very proud to get this award.
Well done to all the children who took part in this event - it was a very special afternoon - you made us all very proud.

Year 5 & 6 Football Tournament
Bishop Pursglove School
Thursday 22nd September 2022

We took the all of Rowling Class to this 'Cluster' event.  We entered 3 teams; 2 boys teams and 1 girls team.  The standard of play was, as ever very good, with many of the teams 'fielding' talented football players.  The 'B' team played a total of 6 games and managed to win some, draw some and lose some.  The girls team were unlucky not to win any of their games, but they certainly improved during the tournament and grew in confidence. The 'A' team won 3 and drew one of their group round games and then went on to win the semi-final 4-0.  They faced Bakewell 'A' Team in the final and what an exciting game this proved to be.  Bakewell took an early lead and then Longstone managed to equalise.  With all of the Longstone pupils cheering the team on, we managed to get another goal past a very competent Bakewell 'keeper' to go on to win the whole tournament.
Well done to all of the Year 5 & 6 pupils today - you certainly all tried hard and it was great to see excellent teamwork and support for each other in all 3 teams.

SSP Year 6 Girls Football Tournament
Highfields School
Wednesday 8th June 2022

This was another great event, in which 5 girls teams took part and once again the standard of football was excellent.  The girls played 6 games, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 2.  They finished in 2nd place overall, with Darley Dale Primary School (winners of the Bunting Cup) being the overall winners.  It is brilliant that the girls are getting many opportunities to play as a team and it is certainly paying off, as they are becoming increasingly more confident every time they play.  They showed great team work and resilience in this tournament, as they never gave up.  Well done girls!

Year 5 & 6 Football - The Bunting Cup
Cavendish Fields
Thursday 26th May 2022

This is an event that traditionally the Longstone pupils have taken part in, but due to COVID it has not happened for 3 years.  We entered a boys and a girls team.  It was an excellent event and over 25 teams took part from across the area - it was great for our teams to play against different schools and the standard was high.  The boys played really well, only losing one game and they finished 2nd overall in their group.  The girls did not lose a single game, but as they drew 2 games, they also finished 2nd overall in their group.  The children displayed fabulous team work, sportsmanship and support of each other - we were very proud of them all.

Year 4 Orienteering
Whitworth Park
Wednesday 25th May 2022

This was a fabulous event and it was great for the children to learn some different skills.  They enjoyed learning to read maps, follow orienteering courses, learn map symbols and work as a team to solve problems.  The children really enjoyed the afternoon and particularly enjoyed working with children from other schools and each other.  

Year 2 Summer Sports Festival
Youlgreave School
Wednesday 5th May 2022

Perfect weather for a Summer Sports Festival held on Youlgreave playing fields.  The Year 2 children took part in a carousel of activities learning mini golf, rounders, cricket, tennis and relay skills.  They enjoyed taking part in the varied activities and meeting children from other schools.  On asking some of the children what they  had enjoyed the most, a number of them said 'all of it!' - a perfect answer and a great way to finish a fabulous afternoon of sport.  Well done to all the Year 2's who took part in this event.  It was a real pleasure to take you out of school and see you enjoying the activities so much.  Well done!

Year 6 Girls' Football Festival
Hope Valley College
​Wednesday 4th May 2022

An opportunity for the Year 6 girls to go and learn some football skills and drills alongside other girls from Bamford and Eyam Schools.  They spent some time in the Sports Hall warming up and getting to know the other girls, whilst playing 1 v 1 mini games and they were reminded of the main rules of football.  They then went on to play the other schools in mini matches.  We played Eyam School first and it was a good opportunity for our girls to play as a team again, as it has been a while since they last played together.  The girls played really well and they won rather convincingly 8-0.  Next they played Bamford, which was a much more even game, with both schools playing well - Longstone were 'on fire' today though and won 5-1.  They then mixed up with the Bamford girls and learnt some new skill games and they finished off the afternoon by playing a final game, with the Longstone and Bamford girls mixing up in the 2 teams.  It was a lovely atmosphere and it was fabulous to see the girls from the 2 schools getting along so well.  Well done to all the Year 6 girls who took part today - great ambassadors for Longstone School.

Year 6 SSP Netball Tournament
Highfields School
Wednesday 27th April 2022

Having won the CLUSTER Tournament, the Longstone 'A' Team got through to the next round of the Netball Competition and got to compete against the other winners of the different CLUSTER groups.  We made a great start against Darley Dale School, winning 4-1 and then went on to win 1-0 against Lea School.  The next match against Osmaston 'B' was a tougher game, but we played a great game and managed to finish with a 2-2 draw.  The final game was against Osmaston 'A' Team - an excellent level of Netball was shown by both teams and it was a great game to watch.  Longstone found it hard to score (always hard when playing rotation, as all players have to shoot) and so Osmaston 'A' went on to win this game 2-0.  The overall winners of the Tournament were Osmaston 'A' Team, but I am pleased to say that Longstone 'A' finished in 2nd place overall and so took home silver medals - very well deserved - well done to the Year 6 pupils who took part in this Tournament.

Year 5 School Sports Organiser Crew Training
Anthony Gell School
Wednesday 6th April 2022

A great opportunity for some of our Year 5 pupils to be 'trained up' to lead sporting activities, such as Sports Days, Inter-house Sport, playtime games and lunch time clubs, in particular when they move into Year 6.  The Year 5's learnt the key elements of how to lead and communicate in different ways - both verbal and non-verbal and what makes a good leader - for example self-belief, passion, respect and teamwork.  They learnt how to deliver some  play-time games and then tried them out on another school.  The Longstone children worked well as a group and contributed well in all the discussions of what makes a good leader and how we lead.  The organiser picked 4 children to receive a special certificate, (from over 50 who attended) who showed good teamwork during the course and one of our pupils received one of these special awards, which we were delighted about.  We are looking forward to being able to use our newly trained up leaders to help with our many sporting activities.

Year 6 Hockey & Quad Kids - Tideswell School
Thursday 31st March 2022

What resilient Year 6 pupils we have at Longstone.  The first few days of Spring & we had wind, rain, sleet, snow and sunshine at this event.  Two teams of Year 6 pupils took part in the Hockey Tournament and they all had the opportunity to sprint, run 600m, jump and throw the 'howler.'  Both teams played well in the Hockey, adapting well to the use of plastic hockey sticks and very different rules to what we are used to playing, as we usually play 'real' hockey.  The 'B' team won and lost a game, but certainly improved in the second game.  The 'A' team made it through to the semi-finals and comfortably won 3-1.  They 'faced' Bishop Pursglove 'A' in the final and were unlucky to lose 1-2 and so finished runners-up of the whole tournament.  We had a fastest time of the day in the 600m - well done Bill and 2 huge throws of 30m + of the 'howler' by Jack and Charlie K - great throwing boys.  Well done to all the Year 6's who took part - smiles throughout, despite the weather!

Year 6 'High 5' - Longstone School
Thursday 10th March 2022

It was great that 3 teams were able to play on 'home soil.'  All of the Year 6 pupils took part in this event and were praised by the 'Cluster' organiser for how confident and organised their play was.  They all knew the rules and their passing was fast and accurate and for those who were a little less experienced in the game, they grew in confidence during the tournament.  The 'C' team finished in 4th place, the 'B' team in 3rd place and the 'A' team were the overall winners of the tournament winning all their games, which was a fabulous achievement.  They will go on to compete in the 'High 5' SSP Finals in April.  Well done to all of the Year 6 pupils, who clearly enjoyed taking part in this tournament.

SSP Cross Country Finals - Highfields School
Thursday 10th February 2022

Having finished in the top 15 in the CLUSTER Cross-Country Event, 1 girl and 3 boys got to compete in the next round at Highfields School.  They were amongst over 50 girls and 50 boys who had also qualified in the top 15 within their 'Clusters.'  The course, that was on a muddy field with a small hill was over a distance of approximately 1.8km was quite challenging.  The girls ran first and Roxy ran a fabulous, well 'paced' race and came in 12th place overall.  Then it was the turn of the boys.  I was so impressed with them all, as they ran their 'own race' and all sprinted in the last 100m of their race 'picking off' many of their opponents, as they approached the finish line. Bill came in 12th overall, Oliver Bar 14th overall and Seb 23rd overall.  The great thing is that Oliver and Seb are in Year 5, so they can hope to qualify again next year.  All 4 runners should be so proud of how they performed - well done to you all.

 SSP Girls Football Finals - Anthony Gell School
Wednesday 24th November 2021

The Year 6 Girls Football Team played in the SSP Finals at Anthony Gell School.  This tournament drew together the 'top' teams from all the different CLUSTER groups - 5 teams in total.  The standard was high from all the teams.  The Longstone girls certainly grew in confidence during the tournament and never gave up.  They narrowly lost 3 games out of the 4, but with low scores like 0-1 & 1-2 and won 1 game 1-0.  They finished in 3rd place overall and enjoyed collecting their well-deserved 3rd place medals.  Lea were the overall winners of the tournament.  Well done to all the girls who took part in this tournament.

SSP Boys Football Finals - Highfields School
Tuesday 23rd November 2021

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The Year 5 & 6 Football Team played in the SSP Finals at Highfields School.  This tournament drew together the 'top' teams from all the different CLUSTER groups - 8 teams in total.  Once again, the standard was very high, with many of the boys showing strong football skills and excellent teamwork.  In the 'round' games, we were unlucky not to win any games, but they certainly did not stop trying.  They finished off with two 'friendly' games and drew them both.  They had a great afternoon and it was great that they got to play so many games and I was very proud of how they kept going and really supported each other.  Darley Dale were the overall winners of the whole Tournament.  Well done to all the boys who took part in this tournament.

SSP Tag Rugby Finals - Highfields School
Wednesday 17th November 2021

Having finished 2nd in the CLUSTER round of the Tag Rugby Tournament, the 'A' team went through to play in the next round at Highfields School, where they 'met' the 'winners' and 'runners up' from all the other Cluster groups.  The standard of play was very high at the 2nd round and despite the Longstone team playing really well, they unfortunately lost both their games, but one of them by only 1 'try.'  This meant that they did not progress in the competition, but we are extremely proud that they made it through to the 2nd round - this is a great achievement.  Osmaston went on to win the SSP Tournament, with Ashbourne finishing in 2nd place and Lea 3rd overall.  Well done to all those who played.

Year 5 & 6 Tag Rugby - Longstone School
​Thursday 11th November 2021

All of our Year 5 and 6 pupils took part in the CLUSTER Tag Rugby Tournament held at our school.  We entered 4 teams and all the children played really well, displaying an excellent understanding of the game, irrespective of which team they were in.  After the first round games were over, Team 'A' finished 1st and Team 'B' 2nd in their group.  In the other group Team 'C' finished 2nd and team 'D' 4th  in their group.  In the semi-final the 'A' team played the 'C' team, with the 'A' team just taking the win.  The 'A' team went on to play Bakewell Juniors in an extremely close fought final and in the last minute of the game lost 3-4! The 'B' and 'C' team played against each other in the 3rd/4th play-off, with the 'B' team taking the win and the 'D' team played Baslow in the 5th/6th play-off, with the 'D' team being the winners.
We ended up coming 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Tournament - a very impressive set of results.  Well done to all of our Year 5 and 6 children - we were very proud of you all.

Year 3 & 4 Dodgeball - Bakewell Junior School
Thursday 21st October 2021

We took all of the Year 3 & 4 children to take part in this very popular CLUSTER event.  We started the afternoon with 3 teams playing in the Tournament.  All 3 teams played brilliantly, coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their groups.  The 'A' team then played the top 2 teams in the other groups and were overall winners of the 'big' school tournament.  They played in the final against the 'small' school tournament winners - Youlgreave School.  This was an amazing final, with both teams playing incredible Dodgeball, but Youlgreave managed to hold onto victory and so were 'runners up' of the whole tournament.  All the children then took part in skilled based activities, which they really enjoyed.  This was a great afternoon of sport - well done to all our Year 3 & 4 children.

Year 6 Football - Bishop Pursglove School
Thursday 14th October 2021

All of Year 6 took part in the CLUSTER Football Tournament at Tideswell School.  We entered a boys team, a girls team and a festival team.  The festival team enjoyed taking part in lots of skilled based activities and finished with a mini tournament.  The boys fought hard against some strong opposition and finished 3rd overall.  
The girls won all their games and played Baslow 'A' in the final and were victorious and so were the overall winners of the tournament.  They will go on and represent Longstone at the SSP competition in a few weeks time.
Well done to all the Year 6's - a great afternoon of football.

Year 1-6 Cross Country - Bakewell Junior School
Thursday 30th October 2021

This is always the highlight of the school calendar and even more so this year, as last year we were not able to take part with other schools.  We took 88 children to the 'CLUSTER' Cross-Country at Bakewell Junior School.  Our Reception children also got involved by taking part in their own mini cross-country event at school, which they really enjoyed.  The event was a mixture of cross-country running round the Bakewell school field and lots of different running agility activities.
The run started with the youngest children running 600m, followed by Yr3/4 running 1,000m and then Yr5/6 running 1.5km.  All the children ran really well, with a great understanding of 'pacing' and many of them finished with a sprint.  We achieved many great individual performances with a number of the children finishing in the top 10 and some finishing in the top 3.  The 6 teams, made up of 10 runners per team finished as follows:
Year 1/2 Girls - 1st
Year 1/2 Boys - 3rd
Year 3/4 Girls - 1st
Year 3/4 Boys - 1st
Year 5/6 Girls - 3rd
Year 5/6 Boys - 2nd

The highlight of this event was Longstone winning the 'value' trophy which was for 'determination.'  All the children were certainly determined and every child ran the whole race and never gave up.  Well done to all our runners - all the teachers were very proud of you, especially Mrs Reeves!

Year 2 Football - Bishop Pursglove School
Thursday 23rd September 2021

What a great start to the year, with us being able to go to the Infant 'CLUSTER' Football Tournament in Tideswell.  17 very excited Year 2's set off from Longstone - for some of them it was the first time they had been on a bus!  They took part in some fabulous skill based games and then the 3 Longstone teams played in a mini football tournament.  It was great to see the children having so much fun with children from other schools.  Our 3 teams - the Tigers, the Lions and the Leopards played great football and our Leopards team finished in 2nd  place overall out of 12 teams.  Well done to all the Year 2's.  It was so good to be part of these events again.

English Institute of Sport (EIS) Visit – Sheffield
Thursday, 5th March

 
This was an amazing opportunity organised by our CLUSTER organisation, for twenty of our Year 5 & 6 pupils to visit the EIS in Sheffield and receive some excellent coaching.  This is a fabulous facility and the children just could not believe the size of the building.  They took part in a 200m and 60m run on the proper running track.  They were taught long jump using a sand pit and high jump, using a flexi bar and a ‘real’ crash mat.  Some of the group learnt the basics of boxing using boxing pads and some fine-tuned their basketball skills.  All the children had a tour of the EIS facilities and saw the boxing ring used in the London Olympics and the gold exercise bike that only Anthony Joshua (the GB boxer) is allowed to use.  We received complements from the Athletics’ coaches on our knowledge of Athletics and the Basketball coach was very impressed with our level of skill and knowledge of the rules.  All the children certainly learnt something new and enjoyed the experience, as did Mrs Dilks and Mrs Reeves and the behaviour of the children was excellent.

​​Year 4 & 5/6 Tri-Golf Competition
Thursday, 6th February

​Having attended this event last year and having had the coaching sessions in Term 1 with Mr Carvell, it was great that we were able to take two teams to this event at Bakewell Junior School.  Mr Carvell had selected the 12 pupils that took part, including the captains.  After a bit of a ‘shaky’ start the Longstone children soon got their eye in and their accuracy started to improve.  After completing 7 different challenges, which varied in their difficulty – we seemed to be better at the more difficult ones, we waited eagerly for the results.  We were delighted to hear that the Year 4 team finished in 1st place and one of the Longstone team was also awarded ‘Player of the Tournament.’  The Year 5/6 team also finished in 1st place, so gold medals all round and 2 more trophies for our display.
Well done to all the golfers – we are very proud of you all.

​Year 5 & 6 SSP Indoor Athletics Finals
Wednesday, 5th February
 

​A team of 9 Year 5 & 6 pupils travelled to Highfields School, Matlock to take part in the finals of the Indoor Athletics.  10 teams had got through to the finals and the standard of competition was very high.  I was very impressed with the resilience of the Longstone pupils, as we had a couple of injuries, but they continued to compete and others were very quick to step into activities that they had not practiced, so as not to let the team down.  We had some strong results in the ‘field’ events and fought hard in the relays, but it was not to be our day.  Osmaston were overall winners, with Turnditch finishing 2nd and Eyam 3rd.  We were awarded the ‘spirit of the games’ trophy for sportsmanship and good manners, which we are very proud of.  Well done to all the team – a great effort and you never stopped smiling!

​Year 5 & 6 Cluster Indoor Athletics Competition
Thursday 23rd January – Graves Sports Centre
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​On arriving at Graves Sports Centre, it was great to see the excitement on the 18 Longstone faces, as they walked into the Sports Hall.  For many of them, they have never competed in such a big Sports Hall and the atmosphere was fantastic.  Six teams from 3 schools took part in the ‘big’ schools event.  All of the Longstone children were ‘on fire’ and we achieved numerous PB’s, (personal bests) in particular in the jumping events.  One of the ‘A’ team managed to jump 2m on the standing-long-jump, which is certainly a record for Longstone School.  Between our two teams, we manged to win 4 out of the 5 relays, due to fast running, efficient use of the reversaboards and slick baton exchanges – it was great to watch.
After nervously waiting for the results to be finalised we were pleased to hear that the Longstone ‘B’ team finished in 3rd place and the ‘A’ team were clear winners, by 40 points and Bakewell Juniors finished in 2nd place.  Well done to all the Longstone pupils – Mrs Dilks and Mrs Reeves were very proud of you all.  The ‘A’ Team will now go through to the next round to be held on Wednesday 5th February at Highfields School.

​Year 5 & 6 Tag Rugby Finals – Lady Manners
Wednesday 13th November

​On the 13th November, the Year 5/6 Tag Rugby team took part in a very successful tournament at Lady Manners School. Losing the first match was a bit of a wake-up call and the team very quickly sorted out their defence and won the next two to make it to the semi-finals against long-time rivals Osmaston.  After going into half time with the scores (and teams) even, the game was lost by a single point. The third place playoff was another close affair with Longstone shaking off defeat and being on the right side of the score board this time around, beating Bakewell Juniors in the process. All children played excellently, showing sportsmanship and positivity all the time.  We are super proud of the bronze medals they achieved and look forward to more tag rugby success next year.

​Year 3 & 4 Dodgeball – Bakewell Junior School
Thursday 14th November 2019

 
On a rather wet Thursday, 34 excited Year 3 & 4 children travelled to Bakewell Juniors to take part in the Dodgeball Competition.  Due to the weather conditions, only 3 schools played at Bakewell Juniors – Bakewell, Longstone and Bishop Pursglove, all of which entered 4 teams.  This enabled all of the games to be played inside – thank goodness!  The hall was buzzing with over 100 children keen to get started!  The games were quick and all the children learnt a lot about team-work and honesty - it is a difficult game to referee!  All four Longstone teams played brilliantly, showing that they certainly knew the rules and were tactically aware.  After lots of games and ‘play-offs’ the results were announced.  The Longstone ‘A’ and ‘B’ Teams finished in joint 3rd place, Bakewell Juniors ‘A’ finishing in 2nd place and Bishop Pursglove ‘A’ winning the Tournament.  Our ‘C’ Team finished in 5th place and the ‘D’ team in 6th place.  A great set of results, to have all four of our teams finishing in the top 6 out of 12 teams.  Well done to all the children who took part – it was a great afternoon of sport.
 

County Football Finals
Tuesday 5th November – Shirebrook Academy 
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​AMAZING ACHIEVEMENT FOR OUR FOOTBALLERS!!!  On a very wet and cold day the Year 5 & 6 Boys Football Team went to Shirebrook Academy in Mansfield to take part in the Derbyshire Schools County Football Tournament.  7 teams (all winners in their SSP Tournaments) took part and the standard of football was extremely high.  Their first match was against Morton and after taking a while to settle into their game, they won 1-0.  A rest game to discuss their form and tactics helped enormously and they went on to comfortably win the next 4 games.  With 1 more game to go, it looked more and more likely that they would win the tournament.  They were playing Kirk Langley, who went 1-0 up in the first few minutes.  After a Longstone handball, Kirk Langley were awarded a penalty and scored.  Longstone did not give up and managed to come back at Kirk Langley and in the last few seconds of the game scored the winning goal, resulting in a 3-2 win to Longstone.  Once all the points had been added up, the results were announced, with Church Broughton finishing in 3rd place, Shardlow in 2nd place and Longstone in 1st place, being the overall winners of the Tournament.  The team will now go on and represent the school at the English Schools Football Association Regional Final in March 2020.  We are all so proud of how well the boys played and they were great ambassadors for the school.  Well done boys!

​Year 5 & 6 CLUSTER Tag Rugby Tournament – Longstone School
Thursday 24th October
 

​It is always great to attend events at our own school on the Recreation Ground so that we do not need to travel and it also enabled all of Year 5 and 6 to take part.  We entered three mixed teams into the Tournament.
The ‘A’ Team convincingly won all their group games and met Bishop Pursglove ‘A’ in the semi-final, who they beat 4-0.  A tough FINAL against Bakewell ‘A’ finished with Longstone ‘A’ winning 5-4, in the final seconds of the game!  This meant that they were crowned overall winners of the Tournament.  They will go on to compete in the SSP Tournament in November.
The ‘B’ Team fought hard and won 1 game and lost 1 game in the group stage, finishing 2nd in their group.  They were then taught the Haka, which they were brilliant at!  They also had the opportunity to play some friendly games against the schools in their group and joined with players from the ‘C’ Team for some extra games – lots of ‘play’ and all good practice and fun!
The ‘C’ Team won 1 game and lost 2 games and finished 3rd overall in their group.  They then took part in some skill-based activities, including ‘swim fishy swim’ – rugby style! They also played lots more games and also joined with the ‘B’ team for more rugby.
All the children learnt a lot during the afternoon and had a lot of fun! 
Well done to all who took part with such determination and enthusiasm in this competition.  Mr Raybould, Mrs Reeves and Mr Colver, who kindly stepped in to take the ‘B’ Team are extremely proud of you all.
 

Year 5 & 6 SSP Girls Football Finals – Anthony Gell School
Wednesday 23rd October ​

​Only 4 girls teams took part in this Tournament and the standard of football was exceptional – some of the teams had County development girls in their squads.  Longstone played with amazing determination and resilience and never gave up.  They were unlucky to lose all 3 games and not score any goals, but they certainly stopped the other teams from scoring!  They improved throughout the tournament and they all said they had enjoyed it and learnt lots!  Despite finishing in 4th place, they walked away with the ‘spirit of the games’ award for determination and perseverance.  Wirksworth Juniors were the worthy winners of the tournament.  We were very proud of how the girls played in this tournament.
 
 

​Year 5 & 6 SSP Football Finals  Wednesday 9th October – Anthony Gell School 

​A very exciting SSP Football Finals at Anthony Gell School.  In the ‘Pool’ stages, the Longstone team won 1 game, and drew 1 game and finished top of their ‘pool.’  They went on to play the winners of the other 2 ‘pools’ – Osmaston and Hulland.  After all 3 schools playing each other, they all won and lost a game, so were on equal points.  It was agreed between the schools, that they would play each other again for 5 more minutes to try and separate them.  It was very tense, but the Longstone boys rose to the challenge and played some amazing football, managing to beat both Osmaston and Hulland 1-0.  This ensured that they were the overall winners of the Tournament and received the gold medals.  As Osmaston and Hulland drew against each other, but lost to Longstone, they were still on the same points and so tied for 2nd place and received the silver medals.
Longstone will now play in the next round in November – The County Tournament.  Well done to all the boys who played - We look forward to seeing how well they do at the County Tournament – Good Luck Longstone!

​Year 1 & 2 CLUSTER Football Tournament
Thursday 10th October – Tideswell
 

​It was great to be able to take all the Year 1 & 2 children to the Football Tournament at Bishop Pursglove School, Tideswell.  The afternoon was a perfect mix of a mini Tournament and football skill activities.  Longstone entered 3 teams and we had a mix of wins, draws and losses in the Tournament.  The ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams both made it to the first semi-final and ‘faced’ each other.  The ‘A’ team managed to beat the ‘B’ team, 3-0, but lost 1-0 in extra time against Litton in the 2nd semi-final.  Litton finished in 2nd place overall in the Tournament, with Bishop Pursglove ‘A’ being the overall winners of the Tournament. 
All the children had a fabulous afternoon and really enjoyed the experience, even when it rained!  They were a real credit to the Longstone – we were very proud of how well they all joined in how much their football skills improved.  Well done!

​Year 5 & 6 SSP Hockey
Tuesday 1st October – Anthony Gell School

Tuesday 1st October – Anthony Gell School


A team of 8 travelled to Anthony Gell to take part in the SSP In2 Hockey Tournament.  Four schools took part, with some schools putting out 2 teams.  We had a tough first match against Osmaston ‘A’ who were very well ‘drilled’ and played a very high level game of Hockey.  We defended very well managing to hold them off to just a 2-0 win to them.  We then went on to lose 1-0 to Lea ‘B’ in the last 30 seconds of the game, having dominated the whole game.  The wind and the rain then started and it was bitterly cold – we then played Eyam, Lea ‘A’ and Osmaston ‘B’ and drew all 3 games 0-0.  The scores were not a true reflection of how well Longstone played – they just could not seem to ‘finish!’  I was delighted with how well all the children played and their play certainly improved throughout the tournament and we have a few things that we can now work on in Hockey Club over the next few weeks.
Osmaston were the winners of the tournament with Eyam being the runners up.  Another great afternoon of sport for the Longstone pupils - Well done to all who played!

Cross Country- Thursday 26th September
Bakewell Junior School

​Great excitement as 58 children from Year 1-Year 6 set off on a bus to Bakewell to take part in the X-Country Event.
After a quick briefing from Mr Pearson (the organiser) the races started.
The Year 1 & 2 (combined) races were first, followed by year 3 & 4 (combined) and then year 5 & 6 (combined).  A few nervous faces and then they were off.  All the children set off confidently in all the races and were soon getting into their stride.  A few last minute tips from Mrs Reeves before each race started – mainly try and get away from the pack and don’t forget to ‘pace!!”  All the children ran brilliantly in all the different year groups and we had a large number finish in the top 20 and nearly all in the top 40 in each race.  The most important thing was that all our runners ran the whole race and nobody walked at all - not one child gave up, which is fantastic.  They certainly showed great determination.
 
There were some excellent results, both individually and as teams:
Year 1 & 2 Boys       1st = George Hornsby
                                    2nd = Thomas Ramsden
Year 1 & 2 Girls        2nd = Amelie Beatson
                                    3rd = Bethany Raybould
 
I would like to mention Patrick – Year 6, who was off school all week but still wanted to run.  He certainly did not look well, but ran an excellent race, finishing in 5th place overall – a great achievement when not well.  Alex – Year 6 finished 7th in that race too so both Patrick and Alex will go through to the Finals and run against other top 10 runners from each of the different CLUSTERS in October.  Well done boys.  Sophie finished in 8th place in the girls race and she will also go through to the finals – well done Sophie.
 
Team Results:
Year 1 & 2 Boys Team = 1st
Year 1 & 2 Girls Team = 2nd
Year 3 & 4 Boys Team = 2nd
Year 5 & 6 Boys Team = 2nd
 

This Girl Can Wednesday 25th September 2019

​Year 5 & 6 CLUSTER Football
Thursday 19th September – Tideswell
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​Last Thursday, 3 teams travelled to Tideswell on a beautiful sunny afternoon to take part in the Football Tournament.  The girls had their own tournament with just 3 teams taking part.  They showed a strong presence on the pitch and convincingly won both their games and so lifted the winners’ trophy for Longstone.  The boys ‘B’ Team won 2, drew 2 and lost 1 game in the round.  They got through to the semi-final but lost to Bakewell ‘A’ by just 1 goal.  They were unlucky in the 3rd/4th play-off, losing by just 1 goal in the final minute of the game and so finished in 4th place overall.  The ‘A’ Team won 3 and lost 1 game in the round.  They beat Bishop Pursglove ‘A’ in the semi-final and met Bakewell ‘A’ in the final.  They went on to beat Bakewell ‘A’ 1-0 and so lifted the winners’ trophy for Longstone.  A good start to the sporting season at Longstone – 2 winners trophies and a 4th place.  Well done to all those who took part.  

​Reception and Year 1 CLUSTER Mini Cricket Skills – Longstone Skill
Thursday 27th June
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​What a fabulous day for this event – the sun was shining all afternoon.  Twenty one Reception and Year 1 children enjoyed a fabulous afternoon of a circuit of cricket based skills at our own school.  The children started off by playing in a mini tournament of Scatterball, which is a game that involves, striking, throwing, fielding and running skills.  This was a new game for the children and I was very impressed with how quickly they picked up the rules.  One of the Longstone teams won both their games and then unfortunately lost their quarter final game to Pilsley who had a very strong team, made up of mostly Year 2 children.  The other Longstone team played really well, but struggled to beat the strong opposition of Youlgrave and Pilsley.  The children then went on to enjoy numerous striking and fielding activities, including throwing stations, running stations and the parachute – always a favourite.  I was very proud of all the children - they certainly took it all in their stride and it will be great to see how they develop next year in these activities.  Well done Longstone pupils and thank you to all the parents who came to support this event – it was lovely to see you all.

SSP Quadkids Finals – Lady Manners School
Tuesday 18th June
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​At last the sun shone on Tuesday 18th June for the finals of the Quadkids, after the event was cancelled the previous week.   Eight year 5 & 6 pupils took part in this event.  The children had to run 600m & 75m, throw the Howler Javelin and take part in the Standing-Long Jump.  All the children had to do all of the events.  This was a tough competition and the standard was very high.  I was proud of how well the children did and many of them achieved personal bests.  I was also particularly impressed with how supportive they were of each other, encouraging each other in all of the events, in particular the 600m.  Longstone finished in 5th place overall, with Ashbourne Primary being the winners.  Well done to all the pupils who took part.

Year 5 & 6 CLUSTER Kwik Cricket Tournament
Thursday, 6th June – Youlgreave 
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​With the sun shining, it was a perfect afternoon for cricket at Youlgreave Cricket Club.  22 Year 5 & 6 pupils took part in a main tournament, a mini tournament and a festival of cricket activities.  All the children enjoyed themselves and their skills certainly improved during the afternoon.  In the main and mini tournaments, all the pupils got to bat, bowl and wicket keep and they were all encouraged to try overarm bowling.  I was very impressed with how willing the pupils were to try overarm bowling and they were determined to persevere and with much success.  Only two teams took part in the main tournament, as many schools were away on Residential Trips.  Longstone managed to beat Baslow by 59 runs and so lifted the trophy.  In the mini tournament, the Longstone team convincingly won both their ‘pool’ games and faced Youlgreave in the final.  They were also victorious and won by 26 runs.  The festival was a great success and the children learnt many new cricket linked skill games and clearly enjoyed the afternoon.  All in all it was a successful and enjoyable afternoon of cricket.  Well done to all the pupils who took part in this event.

​YEAR 4 CLUSTER TENNIS TOURNAMENT AND SKILLS CIRCUIT
Thursday 16th May – Baslow Playing Fields
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​Ten Year 4 pupils attended this event at Baslow.  Four of the pupils played in a mini tennis tournament and the rest of the pupils took part in a circuit of tennis related activities.  These activities were excellent and taught the pupils many useful hand/eye coordination skills related to tennis and most importantly they had fun.  The four pupils who played in the tournament played some excellent tennis, adapting well to the mini tennis rules.  They certainly improved throughout the tournament and there were some excellent rallies in particular between Bakewell Juniors and us.  The pupils had the opportunity to play singles and doubles matches.  After all the results were added up, Longstone finished in 2nd place behind Bakewell Juniors.  Once again, a great afternoon of sport and another great experience for the Longstone pupils.  Well done to all of our tennis players.

​YEAR 3 & 4 SSP QUICKSTICKS TOURNAMENT
Wednesday 15th May – Anthony Gell School

​Two teams of Year 3 & 4 pupils travelled to Wirksworth to take part in the Quicksticks Hockey Tournament.  We entered one team into the Premiership Tournament, which was for the more experienced players and one team into the Championship Tournament, which was less competitive, but gave the pupils the experience of competing.  Quicksticks is a great game, as it uses ‘real’ hockey sticks, but has slightly different rules, including small goals and restricted scoring zones, enabling lots of goals to be scored.  Both teams adapted very quickly to the rules and it was great to see the pupils who had attended the Hockey Club last term using the skills that they had learnt with much success.  The team that played in the Premiership Tournament finished in 3rd place, with Lea winning the Tournament and the team that played in the Championship Tournament finished in 2nd place behind Lea.  This was once again a great afternoon of sport and I was really proud with how all the Longstone pupils played.

​YEAR 3 & 4 CLUSTER SUMMER SPORTS FESTIVAL
Thursday 9th May - Bakewell Junior School

​On a rather wet Thursday afternoon, all of the Year 3 & 4 pupils travelled to Bakewell to take part in the Summer Sports Festival, which the Longstone pupils renamed the ‘raining sports festival!’  Despite the weather the children were very enthusiastic and very much enjoyed and got stuck into the varied circuit of activities that were on offer.  They had the opportunity to play games that improved their cricket, catching & throwing, running, dodging and golf skills and enjoyed earning stickers for their efforts.  This was a very well organised event and the children were certainly not put off by the weather.
 

Bakewell Pool Sprint Swimming Gala
Friday 12th April – Bakewell Pool

Eight Year 5 & 6 pupils attended this event at Bakewell Pool on the last day of term.  There was a great atmosphere around the pool and it was a very well organized event.  Each pupil was only allowed to enter 1 individual stroke event for all the 4 strokes and then all 8 pupils took part in a Freestyle Relay.
The individual races were all timed over 2 ‘heats’ and the top 3 pupils went through to a final. The Longstone pupils made 5 out of the 8 finals and they all swam extremely well, with excellent starts and finishes.
Belle and Jens won gold medals in the Backstroke
Eva and Noah won silver medals in the Breaststroke
Sam won a bronze medal in the Freestyle.
Oli and Martha swam fantastic Fly and just missed out on the finals - the winners swim for Matlock Swimming Club.  Sophie swam her Freestyle really fast against tough competition – next year Sophie.
The highlight was the whole team relay, which Longstone won by a whole length of the pool – a fabulous achievement.  The children were delighted to receive the ‘Duck Trophy’ for their efforts.  The points were then calculated for the whole event and Baslow won the overall event by just 1 point and so received the winner’s shield!  We will be back next year to try and retain the title.
Congratulations to all the swimmers who took part – I was very proud of you all, especially at the end of such a busy term.

Key Steps Gymnastics Competition

Key Steps Inter-House Gymnastics Competition Wednesday 9th April


There was a real buzz in the Hall for this new event that Dahl’s PE group took part in and parents were invited to watch.  The whole of Year 6 acted as leaders, by reading the order of the sequences to the children, practicing the moves and judging. 
During this half-term the children have learnt the key skills for the four different areas of the Key Steps Gymnastics – Body Management, Floor, Vault and Bench. The Body Management and Floor sequences included key gymnastic moves, for example ‘arch’ and ‘dish’ shapes, forward and ‘teddy bear’ rolls and front and back support shapes.  The vault sequence involved the children using a springboard to jump onto the ‘soft box’ to get onto their feet and then jump off with a straight jump to land.  The bench sequence included walking, crouching, turning, balancing and jumping off.  All the children took part in each of the activities and were judged and scored on their performance.  The scores were then added up and an average total for each house was calculated across all four disciplines.  It was very close and the final results were:
1st = Chatsworth
2nd = Thornhill
3rd = Hardwick
4th = Haddon
Well done Chatsworth!
All the children received a participation certificate and medal. 
I was amazed with how well all the children did, remembering all the different moves and in the right order!  They displayed excellent gymnastic skills and fantastic body tension and certainly enjoyed having their own inter-house competition.
Well done to all the children who took part and to Year 6 for their fabulous leadership skills.
We hope to make this an annual event for the younger pupils in the school.

​YEAR 5 & 6 SSP ‘HIGH 5’ FINALS
WEDNESDAY 3RD APRIL – LADY MANNERS SCHOOL
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​Having come 2nd overall in our CLUSTER event, we got the opportunity to take part in the finals of the ‘High 5’ Event, in which the top 2 teams in each CLUSTER compete.  Ten teams took part in this event held at Lady Manners and the weather was much kinder than it had been at our CLUSTER event.  We started well, winning our first game against Lea 3-1.  Next we played Bradley, who we have not met at competitions before and they managed to beat us 2-0.  We then played Crich Carr and Eyam and won both of those games.  We finished 2nd in our ‘pool’ and went on to play Osmaston (winners of their ‘pool’) in the semi-final.  We fought hard, defending especially well and played a fabulous game of ‘High 5’ but they managed to beat us 3-0.  Our final game was against Bradley for the 3rd/4th play-off.    Once again we battled hard, but it was not to be our day and we lost 4-1.  Osmaston were eventual winners of the tournament, with Baslow 2nd and Bradley 3rd.  Longstone finished in a very respectable 4th place overall and I was delighted with how well the team played and adapted so well to the ‘rotations’ and their new positions each time.
A fantastic team effort Longstone – well done!

​YEAR 5 & 6 CLUSTER UNIHOC TOURNAMENT AND QUAD KIDS EVENT
THURSDAY 28TH MARCH – TIDESWELL SCHOOL

​What a glorious spring day it was for this event at Tideswell School.  Three teams (incuding the whole of year 6) took part in the Unihoc and Quad Kids Event, which consisted of a 600m run/ a 75m run/ Standing Long Jump and the Howler Throw.  All 3 teams adapted well to using plastic sticks and an ‘air-flight’ ball and were able to use many of their existing hockey skills to good effect.  We had a mix of wins, draws and losses.  The ‘A’ team got through to the semi-final as top of their group and having won that went on to play Tideswell ‘B’ in the final.  Longstone won 2-0 and so were overall winners of the tournament.
We also had much success in the Quad Kids Events, with 5 children being awarded certificates for being in the top 3 of each event (mixed boys and girls).  We had 2 placed in the 600m, 1 in the 75m, 1 in the Standing Long Jump and 1 in the Howler throw.
All the children enjoyed taking part in this event, especially being able to get involved in so many different activities.
A fantastic set of results – well done to all the children who took part in this event.
 

​Year 5 & 6 Tri Golf Finals
Thursday 14th March – Bakewell Junior School
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​Six Year 5 & 6 pupils were chosen to take part in the Tri Golf Finals based on their scores from the Tri Golf Sessions held in school earlier in the year.  They all had to complete 8 challenges, which varied in their degree of difficulty and they had to score as many points as possible as a team on each of the challenges.  All six Longstone pupils scored on every challenge and are overall score was very impressive.  Longstone were the overall winners by 8 points, with Youlgreave in 2nd place and Bakewell Juniors in 3rd place.  A great result – we clearly have some budding ‘Tiger Woods’ amongst our pupils!
 

​Year 5 & 6 CLUSTER ‘High 5’ Netball
Thursday 7th March – Longstone School
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​Thirty pupils in three teams took part in a very wet and windy ‘High 5’ Netball Tournament.  It was pretty tough for all the pupils, who battled hard against the elements and they really did try their very best.  All three teams played some great ‘High 5,’ clearly showing their excellent ball control and knowledge of the rules of the game.  The ‘B’ Team were runners-up in their ‘pool’ and the ‘A’ Team, winners of their ‘pool.’  This resulted in one semi-final being Longstone ‘A’ v Longstone ‘B’ and the other being Baslow ‘A’ v Baslow ‘B.’  After excting semi-finals, the final was played between Longstone ‘A’ and Baslow ‘B’ with Baslow defeating Longstone 2-1 in a game that was ‘end to end’ and could have gone either way, so Baslow were the overall winners of the tournament.  The ‘A’ team will now go onto the SSP finals in a few weeks time.  Well done to all the players – I was really impressed with your resilience.

Year 5 & 6 Bouldering Finals
Thursday 7th March – Climbing Works Sheffield

​Six Longstone pupils took part in the finals of the Bouldering Competition.  They had to complete 10 challenges of varying difficulty and they scored points for each challenge.  All six did exceptionally well, scoring very well on each of the challenges, against some tough opposition.  The team finished 4th overall, with Grindleford Primary being the overall winners.  Well done to our six nifty climbers!

Morpurgo Dance Festival

Year 5 & 6 SSP Indoor Athletics Finals
Wednesday 6th February – Highfields School
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​On Wednesday 6th February, nine very excited and a little bit nervous, Year 5 & 6 pupils travelled to Matlock to take part in the SSP Indoor Athletics Finals.  Ten teams (the winners/runners-up) in each CLUSTER event took part and the excitement soon mounted in the Highfields Sports Hall.  After a quick warm-up the events got underway.  The relays and field events were completed in two heats, Longstone being in Heat 1 and the fastest times/greatest distances jumped or thrown got the most points – this meant that even if we were winning a relay, we had to push for the fastest time – luckily Baslow were in the same heat so we could ‘push’ each other, but Osmaston were in the other heat.
We ran the relays very well and fast, winning two out of the four and had much success in the ‘field’ events, securing some first places overall and some new Personal Bests (PB’s).  Going into the final 4x1 lap relay, we knew that it was very close between Longstone and Baslow.  Longstone ran a fantastic relay, displaying superb baton exchanges and managed to run the fastest time of all the ten teams.  The tension mounted as we waited for the overall results, hoping that we had made it into the top five…..
In joint 5th place were Lea and Turnditch – fantastic, we had made into the top four!
4th place – Eyam
3rd place – Baslow – 282 points
2nd place – Longstone – 284 points
1st place – Osmaston – 316 points
Longstone were delighted to receive their 2nd place Silver medals and they were certainly well deserved after such a fantastic team performance.  Osmaston thoroughly deserved to win, as they performed amazingly well in the track and field events.  We were delighted that Eyam did so well too and it was great that Mrs Gaywood was there with Eyam and that the Longstone pupils had a chance to catch up with her and for her to see their continued success.
Thank you to Mrs Dilks for all her support and encouragement at this event – we are both very proud of the Longstone Athletes – well done to you all!

​Year 2 Personal Best Challenge
Monday 4th February – The Arc – Matlock
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​All of Year 2 attended this new CLUSTER event at the Arc.  The event consisted of a circuit of activities using different ABC skills – Agility, Balance and Coordination – extremely important Fundamental Movement Skills for KS1.  The children were split into two teams and they took part in activities such as aiming into targets, carrying balls on at tray over low hurdles, passing a beanbag using their feet to the next person and balancing using different numbers of body parts, decided by throwing a dice.  Some of the activities were quite easy for these able Year 2 pupils, but we managed to adapt them to challenge them further.  Mrs Dilks and I were very proud of how all the children joined in with all the activities with enthusiasm and for some their ABC skills did improve.  They were certainly very good ambassadors for the school, as their behaviour was outstanding.  Well done Year 2!

​Year 5 & 6 SSP Basketball Tournament
Wednesday 30th January – Anthony Gell School

​On a cold and snowy day, a team of only 6 players, due to illness, travelled to Wirksworth for the SSP Basketball Tournament.  Eight teams took part and were split into two ‘pools.’  Longstone started strongly, putting in some good attacking play against Hathersage, winning 4-0.  In the next game against Lea, their defensive skills were put to the test and they held them to a 0-0 draw.  In their final ‘pool’ game against Middleton, they attacked and defended extremely well and won convincingly 10-0.  Going through as top of their ‘pool’ they met Osmaston in the final.  This was a fantastic ‘end to end’ game, with Longstone scoring the first ‘basket.’  Osmaston quickly responded scoring soon after.  Going into the final few minutes, it was ‘nail biting’ stuff, but unfortunately Osmaston managed to score another ‘basket.’  The final score was 4-2, making Osmaston the gold medal winners and Longstone taking the silver medals.
I was delighted with how all 6 played and their skills improved throughout the tournament as they grew in confidence – they certainly gained a lot from the experience.  Well done!

​Year 5 & 6 CLUSTER Indoor Athletics Event
Thursday 24th January – Graves Sports Centre, Sheffield
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​It was a great atmosphere at the Graves Sports Centre for the Cluster Indoor Athletics Event.  Two teams from Longstone took part, the Longstone Lions and Leopards.  The pupils performed extremely well in running, jumping and throwing activities.  There were some very close fought relays, in particular against Baslow School and we knew the final results were going to be close.  The Longstone Lions finished in 2nd place behind Baslow (by 6 points) and the Leopards finished in 4th place.  The Lions now go on to represent our CLUSTER in the SSP Finals.  Congratulations to all our athletes who performed extremely well and with great team spirit.  Well done Longstone Lions and Leopards!
 

​Change 4 Life Conference
Wednesday 16th January – The Arc, Matlock
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​Mrs Dilks took four pupils to the Arc to attend this extremely successful conference.  The pupils took part in many varied activities and learnt a lot about leadership skills.  They are looking forward to using the skills they learned when leading the younger children during the rest of the year.

​Year 5 & 6 Bouldering Qualification
Wednesday 16th January – Sheffield Climbing Works

​A new event that Longstone took part in and it was extremely successful.  We entered two teams and they took part in various ‘graded’ bouldering challenges and they scored points for achieving each challenge (more points for more difficult challenges).  We are now waiting to see if we go through to the Derbyshire finals to be held in March.  Mrs Reeves was very impressed with how all the children were extremely determined and attacked the challenges, gaining in confidence throughout the afternoon.  Many of the pupils performed exceptionally well and achieved many of the more difficult challenges.

Year 3 & 4 CLUSTER Dodgeball Tournament

​Thursday 15th November – Bakewell Juniors
On another beautiful afternoon thirty excited Year 3 & 4 children travelled to Bakewell for the CLUSTER Dodgeball Tournament.  This was a fabulous event with over 20 teams taking part.  For the first hour all the children got to be involved in skill based activities linked to Dodgeball, which tested their skills and were great fun.  Our 3 teams then took part in the tournament.  The ‘C’ team won both games in their group and so won their group, but unfortunately lost to Bakewell ‘A’ (the eventual winners of the tournament) in the 1st place group semi-final.  The ‘B’ team won and lost a game in their group games and met Youlgreave ‘C’ in the 2nd place group semi-final, who they lost to. The ‘A’ team won both their games in their group and so won their group.  They went on to beat Youlgreave ‘A’ in the 1st place group semi-final but lost to Bakewell ‘A’ in the ‘final’ semi-final.  The runners-up of the tournament were Bishop Pursglove ‘A’ and Bakewell ‘A’ were the overall winners and well deserved.   Longstone ‘C’ came 5th, Longstone ‘B’ 6th and Longstone ‘A’ 3rd – a fabulous set of results.  Mrs Dilks, Mr Hall and Mrs Reeves were delighted with how well all the children played and we all know what skills to work on for next year!