It has once again been a busy year for the PE Department as they continue to offer pupils a broad and balanced curriculum programme that not only develops physical skills, but also mental, social and personal skills.  The Yavneh College extra-curricular and enrichment programme also continues to thrive and as always, pupils of all abilities are encouraged to get involved in some way.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

Intra School Competitions

The autumn term has seen the start of the Intra School  Sports Fixtures for 2016/17. Intra school competitions are those competitions that take place within the school with pupils and houses competing against each other. Along with the individual competitions, there are five houses competing throughout the year to earn points towards the House Cup. The first competition was a Table Tennis League that took place during lunchtimes for pupils from Y7 all the way through to Y11.

Further competitions are planned throughout the term and include sports hall athletics, rugby and basketball along with the grand finale of Sports Day on the 10^th July.

The annual Yavneh College Sports Day for 2016 took place on Tuesday 12^th July  at Yavneh College, and followed a now familiar multi-sport format. Despite the forecast of wet weather, the day started brightly and all pupils took part in a range of different sports that included track and field athletics, football, cricket, netball, tag rugby, volleyball and rounders.

Involvement in competitive sport has been reported to have several, wide ranging mental, social and physical benefits, therefore all pupils were encouraged to take part in as many as possible of the sports activities on sports day and contribute to the achievements of the House that they were representing.

Sports Day was a tightly fought competition and the pupils responded in an excellent manner to both the enjoyment and participation element along with the competitive element.

There were many individually outstanding performances, but the true highlight was seeing so many pupils enjoying participation in sport and physical activity and the many pupils that showed real determination and resilience to perform at their own personal best in the events that they chose. Even as the rain came down, many pupils showed their resilience and determination to finish their events to the best of their ability.

The House Sports Day trophy was presented to the winning house by Mr Lewis. And the winner was………………………Shalva House!!  Well done to all of those pupils who represented Shalva!

School/Club Links

Yavneh College PE Department continues to have strong links with Hertsmere Community Sports Development and local sports clubs.

The Zenith Trampolining satellite club continues to run weekly at Yavneh College with over 30 pupils attending, developing trampolining skills under the guidance of Zenith Trampolining coaches. Pupils are then offered the opportunity to attend Zenith trampolining sessions at their club in Potters Bar.

Similarly, the school has continued to develop a successful link with Herts Phoenix Athletics Club between March and July.  The club coaches visit Yavneh College to run weekly Athletics sessions and offer the opportunity for pupils to further develop their skills and take part in competitions under the Herts Phoenix umbrella. The Saracens Sports Academy are also currently offering free Dace sessions on a Tuesday lunchtime.

Girls football at Yavneh College has benefited from sessions being delivered by Arsenal Ladies and Barnet FC. A group of Y7 girls will soon have the opportunity to attend coaching sessions run by Watford Ladies. All Y7 girls are welcome and should look out for further details on the PE noticeboards.

Pupils can find details of local clubs and opportunities on the Community Sports Clubs and Events Notice Board in the PE Department.

Competitive School Sport

The Yavneh College PE Department continues to provide opportunities for pupils to be involved in competitive sport at many levels and in several sports.

Yavneh College pupils attend regular sports events organised by Maccabi GB. Throughout the year, the pupils have competed against other local Jewish schools in football, netball, rounders, badminton, table tennis and basketball. The most impressive performances of 2016 came from the girls rounders’ teams who won the Maccabi schools competitions at all age groups.

Yavneh College is also fully committed to the Mid Herts School Sports Association competitions with other schools from Borehamwood, Welwyn and Potters Bar. The boys and girls have been taking part in the District Football League and Netball league respectively. There have also been several “B” team fixtures to help give increased opportunities for pupils to represent the school.

Further highlights of the school sporting year were………….

• Athletics was in full swing during the summer term. Yavneh students were attending clubs and competing fixtures such as the Mid Herts District League and the annual Maccabi Athletics tournament. 30 students have also been working hard and developing their physical skills with 3 coaches from Herts Pheonix Athletics Club.
• Several individuals have improved their personal best performance and broken school records including; Izzy Kennedy (100m), Milly Schecter (Shot), Jake Greenfield (Shot), Beth Karbaron (Long Jump), Amelie Freedman (300m), Orli Ash (Javelin), Matti Harris (1500m), Oli Leigh (Shot), Alex Shaw (200m), Josh Field (Hurdles), Orli Ash (Javelin).
• This success was recently followed by Yavneh College’s best ever performances at the District X Country Championships, with the year 9 boys team of Matti Harris, Zev Grunvald, Oli Epstein and Benji Morrison finishing in first place.
• Yavneh College entered A and B tennis teams in the U13 (Year 8), U14 (Year 9) and U15 (Year 10) age groups for the Mabbit Trophy. Each year group played competitive fixtures against Sharrardswood, Monks Walk and Chancellors School. The U13’s finished top of their group and qualified for the finals which on Thursday 31^st June at Queenswood School against the other District winners in Hertfordshire. The U15’s narrowly missed out on the finals finishing 2^nd losing by two games (level of sets won).
• One of the highlights of the summer term was the Mid Herts District Athletics. Mid Herts is comprised of 12 schools and the competition truly is one of the biggest and best Hertfordshire has to offer.
• On Friday 26th June pupils and students from Yavneh College 50+ pupils from Year 7 to Sixth Form took part in a wide range of track and field events. As with previous years a vast amount of pupils qualified for their respective finals.

Watford and Hertsmere School Sports Partnership events

The girls and boys have attended the badminton and basketball Watford and Hertsmere school sports partnership competitions.  These competitions are an opportunity to play against different schools who are outside of our district.  The sports are often those where pupils have less experience than some of the sports that they may play more often.

GCSE PE & BTEC Sport

Aiming to follow in the footsteps of last year’s GCSE group who achieved outstanding results, the GCSE PE students have been busy recently completing their Analysis of Performance Assessments and Personal Exercise Programs. This has all been helped by the extra practical sessions, including Netball, Football, Handball and Fitness that have been run by the Yavneh PE Department. February will also see the addition of GCSE PE revision sessions.

The Yavneh PE Department is pleased to be offering BTEC Sport as a new option for study at Key Stage 4. This term the group have been busy working on their first units focussing on the attributes for successful sports leadership.

Sports Leadership

The Sports Leadership team is made up of pupils in Sports Leadership enrichments or pupils who have shown a particular interest during their sports leadership lessons. The Sports Leaders are currently busy preparing for the visit of the  Hertsmere Primary Schools including Clore Shalom, Saffron Green, Kenilworth, Monksmead and Cowley Hill for the Watford and Hertsmere School Sports Partnership Sportshall Athletics. The Sports Leaders will be using their excellent planning, organisational and communication skills in order to assist with the running of this event and more throughout the year. Any other pupils who wish to volunteer for sports leadership activities should get more information from their PE teacher or the Sports Leadership notice board.

The Sky Sports Living for Sports Project has run for the second consecutive at Yavneh with GB International long jumper JJ Jegede spending a day with the Y9 Sports Leaders. The day involved pupils taking part in workshops and practical activities to develop in a range of key areas; mental toughness, hunger to achieve, people skills, sports and life knowledge, breaking barriers, planning for success. JJ also shared his inspirational story and answered questions with pupils during lunch time.

And Finally…

It is important to note that Yavneh College’s PE programme is not just geared towards school representation. All pupils are encouraged to take part in extra-curricular clubs before school, during lunchtime and after school, regardless of their ability. Details of the extra-curricular activities can be found on the PE Department notice boards in school and also on the school website and on the PE Department Twitter page @Yav_PE.