SPORT
We have enjoyed another fantastic term for sport at APS.
The pinnacle of the term has to be our achievements by the hockey teams. Most of the boys in Year 4 had their first taste of
“Quicksticks” hockey against Cheadle Hulme and The Ryleys. The Year 5 boys enjoyed fixtures home and away against
Formarke Hall, where victories at Bowdon inflicted a first defeat of the season on our visitors from the midlands. We also
travelled to Formarke for a weekend Year 5 tournament, where the boys finished a creditable third. Further matches against
The Elms, Terra Nova and The Ryleys allowed all the boys who had attended our lunchtime clubs to represent the school this
term. At the end of term, the Inter House Competition was won by Alexander (Yellows).
Our first team hockey squad enjoyed a successful competition at the Regional I.A.P.S. North and Midlands competition at
Repton School. After a gruelling qualification period, we lost in a close final to Formarke Hall 1-0, but qualified for the
national finals for the fourth time in five years! This year’s finals took place at Cranleigh School, Surrey with the top 20
schools in England and Scotland in attendance. After three wins from four group games, with victories over The Perse
School, Hoe Bridge and New College, we finished second in our group
and moved onto the quarter finals of the main competition. After
beating Kings College Cambridge 3-2 in an entertaining but nail biting
match, we enjoyed a one sided 4-0 semi final victory against Parkside
School. The final was against Chafyn Grove, who beat us 1-0 in the
group stages and were the reigning National Champions. After a tense
final finished 0-0, we moved onto extra time golden goal. Both de-
fences continued to come out on top and it all came down to penalty
shuffles. William made two fantastic saves and goals from Ted and
Harvey ensured a 2-0 victory and APS being crowned
IAPS National
Hockey Champions!
Just 14 hours later, a refreshed squad travelled north to Leeds for the
North In2 Hockey Finals. Despite tired legs from the previous day’s
achievements, we made it through the group stages, beating Kings
School Chester in the semi finals and won another close final against Kirkham Grammar School, this time by penalty flicks.
What a fabulous couple of days for all the boys involved.
In January, we played our annual rugby match against The City of Lon-
don Freemans School, where 40 boys from Year 5 enjoyed represent-
ing the school on a crisp Saturday morning, playing some great running
and passing rugby despite the cold weather. During the term, all of our
Year 4 boys had their first taste of contact rugby and our Year 3 boys all
played tag rugby for the school. That amounts to over 160 boys playing
rugby for the school this season!!!!! The House rugby competition was
won by Cunningham (Blues).
All of our Year 3 boys had another chance to represent the school at
football against Stockport Grammar on the Astroturf at Bowdon and the
Year 6 5 aside squad reached the final of the Altrincham Schools 5 a side
competition at Altrincham Leisure Centre. The first team have also
reached the semi-finals of the Altrincham Schools F.A. cup, to be played
after the holidays. Good luck boys! During a busy day on Mourn day
Thursday, our Year 2 boys had their first taste of representing the school against St. Ambrose. All the boys demonstrated
fantastic sportsmanship as well as great teamwork, playing great football and winning most of their matches.
Fresh on the back of winning the Altrincham Schools
Cross Country League last term, a squad of boys
travelled north to Sedbergh School for the annual
“Rawthey Run”. Ethan finished a creditable 9
th
, despite
losing a trainer during the race. Edward finished 16
th
with all of the squad finishing in the top 45. Ethan and
Edward also represented Trafford at the Greater Man-
chester Cross Country Championships at Heaton Park.
Well done boys! The Year 3, 5 and 6 squads won the
team events in the Ladybarn Invitation Cross Country