On Wednesday 19 March 2008, Somervale School hosted a Tag Tails Festival. Seventy Primary School students came from St John’s, Welton and Paulton Junior School to take part in the event. The schools were mixed and split into seven teams with a Somervale Junior Sports Leader volunteers helping each team. The aim of the game is to try and get as many ‘tails’ as you can from the other team before they get yours. There is a time limit for each game of 10 minutes and every team plays each other. The idea of the festival is enjoyment, fun and participation, therefore after an hour of playing there were no specific winners - all the students were winners for taking part! A lot of fun was had by all who took part and observed!
Archive for March, 2008
On Wednesday 12th March ’08, 225 students from 13 different Primary Schools came to Somervale School to participate in the Annual Midsomer Norton Games Association Cross Country event. The schools that participated were: St Mary’s Timsbury, St Mary’s Writhlington, Midsomer Norton, St. John’s, Camerton, Shoscombe, Westfield, Trinity, St. Benedicts, Paulton, Farrington Gurney, Farmborough and High Littleton. Despite the weather’s efforts to disrupt the event, we had lovely sunshine for the afternoon (although very windy!). With volunteers from Somervale marshalling the course the students made their muddy way around and fun was had by all. The girls’ race was won by Westfield and the boys’ race was won by Paulton Junior. The top 3 girls were as follows; 1st Georgia Russell, Schoscombe2nd Helena Midgley, St Mary’s Timsbury3rd Jessie Johnson, St. Benedicts The top 3 boys were;1st Rory Morgan, Paulton Junior2nd Dominic Emery, St. Benedict3rd Harrison Nash, St Mary’s Writhlington
ESFA cup, Round 6 (last 32)
Somervale hosted Buckler’s Mead School from Yeovil in the 6th round of the English Schools’ F.A. cup on a bright and breezy February afternoon. The game started brightly with some entertaining passing moves from both sides, and a few strong challenges to set the tone of a highly competitive game.Somervale gradually exerted themselves on the game, tackling well, intercepting stray passes and feeding the ball quickly into the feet of their lively forwards, Lauren Hopson and Jade Woodbury.
Just as it seemed the home side were beginning to dominate, Buckler’s Mead opened the scoring with a break through on goal by their captain and centre forward. In one of the swiftest responses imaginable, Somervale equalised with a sweeping move that set Lauren Hopson clear in the left channel for a firmly-struck shot into the bottom left corner to level the scores after trailing for no more than a minute. With the score at 1-1, Keirra Minall and Becky Evans dominated the centre of the pitch as the midfields of both teams engaged in some excellent passing moves, and Davina Neil made several crucial interceptions to disrupt the flow of the visitor’s passing.
The left side of the pitch was providing a good outlet for several moves, usually instigated by Marie Davis, and when Hopson shot from the left again, the keeper parried only for Jade Woodbury to swoop on the rebound and stab it home despite a desperate challenge from the opposing centre back. The half ended with Buckler’s Mead playing several balls behind the defence, but their attacks were well-covered by the quicker legs of Vicky Vine and Kelly Davis. On the few occasions when their forwards did break through the defence, Kirsty Flitter came off her line well and claimed the ball on several occasions, and did well to hold onto the one driven shot on target.
The second half saw long spells of territorial pressure from Somervale and some near-chances created by Minall and Neil, but no real clear-cut chances. Buckler’s Mead attempted to play on the counter-attack, but stout defending from the reliable Molly Pratt and Gemma Riddle made it very difficult for Buckler’s Mead to enter Somervale’s half. In the closing minutes as both sides tired, there was still some defending to do as Buckler’s Mead drove forward in numbers, increasingly desperate for an equaliser. Tash Moss came on to give fresh legs up front, and some resolute defending resulted in a late corner to Buckler’s Mead. The ball was cleared upfield, and the final whistle heralded a hard-fought and richly-deserved victory for Somervale in their sternest challenge so far this season.
The win earns the girls a place in the ESFA Cup 7th round and places them in the last 16 teams remaining in the national competition, where they will play away against Winston Churchill School, Woking.
Teen author, Matt Whyman visited Somervale School on 28 February 2008 to inspire a group of pupils with extracts from his action-packed adventure books, ‘Inside the Cage’ and ‘ Street Runners’. Matt is one of the authors who is part of Bath Festivals’ 2008 Visiting Author Programme. He has written both fiction and non-fiction for teenagers and also works as an advice columnist for many teenage magazines. Bath Festivals provide a year round programme of educational events with the aim of enabling young people to develop their creativity. This year’s festival runs from 23 February to 2 March.
