The children who took part were competing for individual honours and team pride as they raced the 1-mile course and they were cheered on and encouraged by their teammates as they came back through the start area to complete their second lap.

There were 8 races on the day with a separate boys and girls race for years 3, 4, 5 & 6 with the first three finishers in each race receiving a medal and certificate. There were some strong individual performances on the day with recognisable names from previous years finishing in the top 3.

Team Champions

In the team competition it was the top three placed runners from each school that scored for their team with a separate Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 team competition.

• Year 3/4 Team Winners: Elsworth Primary School – winning for the first time!
• Year 5/6 Team Winners: Meldreth Primary School – also first-time champions!

Both team competitions were extremely close, with only a handful of points separating the top three teams in each category – a true testament to the high level of competition and effort from every school.

The event was made possible thanks to the Uniformed Services students from Cambridge Regional College, who marshalled the route with professionalism, and the Sports Leaders from Impington Village College who managed the start and finish areas, led the warm ups and acted as tail runners.

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell, said,

“It was great to be back at Milton Country Park for one of our favourite events of the year. It was lovely to see so many schools and children taking part creating a wonderful sense of community. All of the runners showed incredible effort and sportsmanship. Events like today show the power of sport to bring people together and inspire confidence and camaraderie.”

Teacher feedback:

“The children were proud to represent their school and showed great determination.”

“The children enjoyed competing to the best of their ability and competing against others.”

“The children are now determined to run more often.”

TEAM RESULTS

The overall team results were as follows (only schools that had entered a team for all four races could qualify for the team competition):

Children from Guilden Morden Primary School also took part in the event but they did not have enough runners to qualify for the team competitions.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

The were some great performances put in to earn individual honours with top 3 finishers coming from 12 different schools:

Pupils from Years 3 to 6 raced in 8 separate races, boys and girls for each year group, with the first three finishers in each race receiving a medal and certificate.

In the team event it was the top three placed runners from each school in the 8 individual races that scored with separate Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 competitions.

Histon and Impington Park Primary School dominated the team event going one better than last year and winning both team events to be crowned overall champions! Other notable team performances were from Melbourn Primary who finished runners up in the Year 3/4 event for the first time and 6^th in the Year 5/6 event. Trumpington Park also deserve recognition for finishing 4^th and 5^th in the two team events.

Spirit of the Games Awards recognised exceptional determination and self-belief, with one winner from each school receiving a free National Trust Family Pass thanks to the generosity of Wimpole Estate.

The event was made possible thanks to the Uniformed Services students from Cambridge Regional College, who marshalled the route with professionalism, and the Sports Leaders from Bassingbourn & Comberton Village Colleges, who managed the start and finish areas and acted as tail runners. We couldn’t have done it without them—they were incredible!

Teacher Feedback:

“Thanks for another great cross country event! All of our children had a really positive experience and for more than one child it was their ‘best day ever’.”

“The children had an amazing experience, and they came away stronger and prouder.”

“We saw so much encouragement, determination, perseverance and we are very grateful we got to take part in this event. Thank you for hosting and organising – please keep this event going.”

Some of our children quoted ‘this is the best event for the whole school year!’

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell, said,

“It was an incredible day for our 10^th year at Wimpole Estate. Throughout the day we saw determination, teamwork and sportsmanship but for me it was the atmosphere that made it so special with the children cheering their teammates and all the runners on as they approached the finish line in front of Wimpole House. 

This is our biggest event of the year and a lot of planning and organisation goes into it by the whole team but it makes it all worthwhile when you see the smiles and enjoyment on the children’s faces and the sense of achievement they feel. Lots of them today told us how they felt really happy, proud of themselves and pleased to be with their friends representing their school

Today was a real celebration of what sport is about.”

TEAM RESULTS

The overall team results were as follows (only schools that had entered a team for all four races could qualify for the team competition):

Other schools taking part but not recording a team result included Cottenham, Hatton Park, The Meadow, Bassingbourn and Fenstanton.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

The were some great performances put in to earn individual honours with top 3 finishers coming from 10 different schools:

See further photos from the day on our social media platforms.

The South Cambs School Sports Partnership recently hosted an afternoon of football fun for teams of Year 3/4 girls at Melbourn Village College. The event which was aimed at girls who are beginners or new to football attracted entries from 12 schools. The aim was to engage new audiences in football, develop children’s physical skills and most importantly promote fun and friendships.

With the Women’s Euros taking place in Switzerland this summer the event was linked to this with each of the 14 teams taking part allocated a Women’s Euro 2025 Finals country to represent and given a set of t-shirts to wear.

The event involved lots of friendly matches against different teams and the girls were set the challenge of coming up with a fun goal celebration whilst the Football Fun Factory attended and set up lots of mini goals so the girls could practice their shooting skills when they didn’t have a game. It was all focused on giving the girls a really fun afternoon whilst providing many of them with their first opportunity to play competitive football.

The teams of Year 3/4 girls came from Histon & Impington Brook, Petersfield, Dry Drayton, Thriplow, Melbourn, Meldreth, Bar Hill, Girton, Histon & Impington Park Linton Heights, Haslingfield and Barnabas Oley Primary Schools.

A team of year 9 & 10 sports leaders from Melbourn Village College supported the event, refereed the matches and made sure everything ran smoothly. We are grateful to them for their support and Nicky from Melbourn Dynamos Wildcats who attended the event and encouraged the girls and sports leaders.

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell said,

“It was a fun afternoon and great to see so many girls playing football with smiles on their faces. We hope we have inspired some of them to play more, whether that’s in school or out in the local community. They need to know football is for them.

Whilst great progress has been made and more and more schools are offering girls the chance to play football, we know that many girls are still put off playing as boys dominate the playgrounds for example and girls don’t feel comfortable joining in. We need to make sure they have their own space and opportunity to play should they want to. Events like this help them to realise that football is for them, and they should be able to play if they want to.”

South Cambs School Sport Partnership is part of a nationwide scheme that aims to mainstream football in school for girls with the vision to ensure every girl has equal access to football in school. To find out more visit www.girlsfootballinschools.org

B Team Finals

The first of the finals nights was for all of the B teams who had played in their local leagues. This final took place at Comberton Village College with 15 teams competing against each other. After the first round of matches the teams were organised into different divisions for the finals. In the top division were Swavesey, Histon Brook, Trumpington and Hardwick.  The standard of netball across all of the courts was excellent and the feedback from the event was very positive from all who took part. After a round of competitive and close matches, Histon Brook school took the overall B team title with Swavesey primary school finishing in second place. The overall finishing positions from all schools from the B tournament were:

A team Plate Finals

The A team finals are split into two competitions the Plate and the shield. The plate is for all of the A teams who finished in the second half of their local league. Played at Northstowe Secondary College this featured 9 teams. All of the teams played each other in a round robin format and despite the hot temperature the level of netball from all courts was excellent. The sports leaders from Northstowe SC umpired all the matches using the skills they have developed from being part of the leadership academy. After a display of excellent netball across all of the courts the overall winners where Jeavons Wood who only lost one game across the whole afternoon and in second place (only 2 points behind the winners) were Girton Glebe school. Both teams were presented with medals to recognise their achievement. Well done to all schools who took part. The final plate positions were:

A team Shield finals

Thirteen primary schools competed in the A Team Shield which was held at Comberton Village College after finishing in the top half of their local leagues. The top four teams from this competition qualify for the BEE Netball County Finals which are taking place on Wednesday 21st May at St Ives.

The schools were split into three pools, with each team playing all of their rivals within that group to determine whether they qualified into Division 1, 2 or 3 for the next round of matches.

The standard of netball across all of the teams was exceptionally high and it was great to see the level of improvement from all teams across the rounds, especially with their shooting accuracy.

After the first round of matches, it was Swavesey, Histon Brook, The Vine School and Coton who went into pool 1 to play for the title. It was an extremely close competition, but the accurate shooting of Histon Brook primary school meant that they finished as winners of the competition. All of the games were played in great spirit and the sports leaders from Comberton VC made sure that all matches were being played to the rules and that all of the teams enjoyed the event. We wish Histon Brook, Swavesey, Coton and The Vine the best of luck as they go on the represent South Cambs in the county finals.  The full results from the competition were:

Spirit of the Games awards –

As well as recognising all of the physical skills being used, each competition awards a ‘spirit of the games’ award which is nominated by other schools and sports leaders. Nominations were received  by schools for displaying excellent team work, support, perseverance and respect. Our Spirit of the Games winners were:

B team tournament – Coton

A team Plate tournament – Harston & Newton

A team shield tournament – Milton

Tournament organiser, Julia Scarboro said, “Our annual Bee Netball League is one of our most popular competitions, we had a large number of schools entering the leagues and the standard of netball improves every year, and this year it was definitely our best yet. I must thank all of our host secondary schools for running the local league competitions and a very big thank you to Northstowe Secondary college and Comberton Village Colleges for hosting the finals nights and of course the sports leaders who gave up their time to help umpire all of the matches and manage the score table. They all did and outstanding job.

The Quicksticks format is played by 4-a-side teams made up of 2 boys and 2 girls. There are no goalkeepers and the game is played with bigger & lighter balls making it safe, fun and accessible to all.

The morning event involved 20 teams from 12 ‘Big Schools’ with teams split into 4 pools of 5 where they all played each other in a round robin format in quick 7min matches. There were plenty of competitive matches and close scoring games as teams gave their best effort to do well for their school. Teams finishing positions in these round 1 matches determined which division they qualified for in round 2 of the competition. With the winners of each pool qualifying for Division 1, runners up for Division 2, third placed for division 3 and so on down to division 5.

Winning their pools and qualifying for Division 1 were the teams from Bassingbourn, Waterbeach Swavesey and Histon & Impington Brook. Last years winners Trumpington Park qualified for Division 2 along with teams from The Vine, The Meadow and Pendragon.

Worthy winners on the day were the team from Histon & Impington Brook who went on to win all 3 of their matches in Division 1, maintaining a 100% record across the morning whilst scoring 22 goals and only conceding 4, congratulations to them. Swavesey played some lovely hockey throughout the morning and demonstrated excellent teamwork and respect to finish as runners up and win the ‘Spirit of the Games’ award.

The Vine finished as worthy winners of Division 2 for the second year running. Other schools taking part in the event were University of Cambridge, Jeavons Wood & Monkfield Park.

The afternoon event saw teams from 13 different schools compete for ‘Small School’ honours with the competition organised in the same format as the morning event. Winning their pools and qualifying for Division 1 were the teams from Elsworth, Harston & Newton, Coton & Meldreth. There were lots of competitive matches in the divisional stages but the clear winners on the day were Coton Primary School who won all 3 of their matches in the top division, well done to them. Runners up were Elsworth Primary school whilst the team from Great Abington won Division 2 for the second year running.

Other schools taking part in the small school’s event included Dry Drayton, Fen Drayton, Foxton, Hauxton, Petersfield, Bourn, Barrington & Thriplow.

The event was made possible thanks to the support of 20 sports leaders from Comberton Village College who did an exceptional job umpiring 140 games across 8 pitches over the course of the day. They all did an incredible job and showed excellent communication & decision-making skills as well as empathy towards the younger children. A big thankyou to them.

The children who took part were competing for individual honours and team pride as they raced the 1-mile course and they were cheered on and encouraged by their teammates as they came back through the start area to complete their second lap.

There were 8 races on the day with a separate boys and girls race for years 3, 4, 5 & 6 with the first three finishers in each race receiving a medal and certificate. There were some strong individual performances on the day with recognisable names from previous years finishing in the top 3.

In the team competition it was the top three placed runners from each school that scored for their team with a separate Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 team competition.  Last years winners Bourn and Girton Glebe performed strongly on the day, but neither could retain their titles. Haslingfield put in an incredibly strong performance in the Year 5/6 event, winning the Year 6 girls and Year 6 boys event to finish well clear of runners up Girton Glebe.

The Year 3/4 competition was closer with only 18 points separating the top two teams but it was new comers Steeple Morden who claim the winners shield behind Great Abington in 2^nd.

The overall team results were as follows (only schools that had entered a team for all four races could qualify for the team competition):

Children from Guilden Morden, Dry Drayton and Burrough Green primary schools also took part in the event but these schools did not have enough runners to qualify for the team competitions.

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell, said,

“It was great to be back at Milton Country Park for one of our favourite events of the year. It was lovely to see so many schools and children taking part and there was certainly lots of grit and determination on display as the children took on the 2 lap course. Its always lovely to hear the children cheering and encouraging their teammates as they come through to complete their first lap before winding their way back through the trees and round to the finish line.

As always, we must thank the team of sports leaders from Impington Village College who volunteered at the event leading the warm up zone, running at the back of each race as sweep runners, helping at the finish line and generally supporting the children to get round the course. We also had a group of uniformed services students from Cambridge Regional College who marshalled the route for us and made sure the children were safe out on the course. I say it every time, but we simply couldn’t run events like today without the support of them and their colleges.”

A frosty morning awaited schools at Wimpole Estate for the annual South Cambs School Sport Partnership Big Schools Cross Country competition but as the 1000 plus runners ran the course the sun came out to warm them up and create a picturesque scene. There was a record entry of 24 schools from across South Cambs for what is now a firm highlight of the year in most schools sporting calendars.

The children who took part were competing for individual honours and team pride as they raced the 1-mile course which looped out around the parkland before returning for a grand finish in the Christmas cathedral of lights up the main drive to the house and in front of onlooking teammates who applauded them home.

There were 8 races on the day with a separate boys and girls race for years 3, 4, 5 & 6 with the first three finishers in each race receiving a medal and certificate. In the team competition it was the top three placed runners from each school in each race that scored for their team with a separate Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 team competition.

The were some great performances put in to earn individual honours with top 3 finishers coming from 13 different schools:

For the second year running the team competitions were dominated by the two schools from Histon & Impington with Histon & Impington Brook comfortably retaining the title of Year 5/6 Team Winners ahead of neighbours Histon & Impington Park and third placed team University of Cambridge.

Honours were reversed in the Year 3/4 team event with Histon and Impington Park taking the winners shield ahead of Histon & Impington Brook and Melbourn Primary who finished 3^rd.

Other notable team performances were from Melbourn Primary who finished a credible 4^th and 3^rd in the two events and Bar Hill who fielded a team in both events for the first time and managed an impressive 6^th and 5^th place.

The overall team results were as follows (only schools that had entered a team for all four races could qualify for the team competition):

Other schools taking part but not recording a team result included Jeavons Wood, Bassingbourn and Fenstanton.

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell, said,

“It was a great day. I say it every year, but we are so lucky to be able to hold this event at such a stunning venue and today we were blessed with blue skies and lovely winter sunshine which just added to the atmosphere and enjoyment of all of the children.

There were lots of incredible performances but for me the highlight was listening to the children cheering on their teammates and all the finishers as they came up the drive to the finish line.

This is our biggest event of the year and a lot of planning and organisation goes into it by the whole team but it makes it all worthwhile when you see the smiles and enjoyment on the children’s faces and the sense of achievement they feel. Lots of them today told us how they felt really happy, proud of their achievements and pleased to be with their friends representing their school.

I must say that we couldn’t have delivered today’s event without the support of sports leaders from Bassingbourn and Comberton Village Colleges who acted as sweep runners, led the warmup area and helped with the finish line and a group of uniformed services students from Cambridge Regional College who marshalled the route so a big thankyou to each and every one of them”.

Ten teams took part in the #LetGirlsPlay event which was aimed at introducing new girls to the game of football and giving them the opportunity to represent their school in a fun and friendly environment.

Matches were 7-a-side with roll on, roll off subs with teams getting to play against lots of different schools in quick 10min matches. A group of 8 sports leaders from Melbourn Village College helped to referee all of the games on the day whilst ex-Comberton students and current MK Dons players Maddie & Olivia Welham helped to inspire the girls on the day along with Astro the mascot.

The schools taking part included Dry Drayton, Trumpington Park, Barton, Coton, Girton Glebe, Melbourn, Meldreth & Thriplow.

With the focus of the event being on providing an introduction to competitive football in a really positive and fun environment the results of the matches were not recorded instead teams were asked to score their opposition based on their teamwork, Fair play and their team/individual skill.

Nicky from Melbourn Dynamos Wildcats Girls Football also supported the event and chatted to the girls about the weekly Saturday morning sessions she runs for girls aged 3-11 at Melbourn Rec.

Claire McDonnell, South Cambs SSP Partnership Manager said,

“It was a lovely afternoon of football and great to be able to give so many girls their first opportunity to play competitive football. They had a really fun time playing with their friends and representing their schools and they all left with massive smiles on their faces.

We hope that some of them will continue to play back in school and some may even want to join their local Weetabix Wildcats session or girls club.”

Quadkids is a team-based competition with 5 boys and 5 girls each competing in a 75m sprint, a 600m run, a long jump and vortex howler throw. Individual performances are scored using a points table and the winners are the team with the highest cumulative points score so it is important that every athlete puts in their very best performance in each event.

The winners of the ‘Small Schools’ competition were Harston & Newton Primary School who have an incredibly strong tradition in the event, they retained the trophy they have won the last 4 years with all of their athletes finishing in the top 70 athletes overall and their girls filling the top 4 places in the individual results! Runners up were Bourn Primary School closely followed by Great Abington in 3^rd place.

It was a different story in the ‘Big Schools’ competition with a new name on the winner’s trophy. It was an outstanding performance from the whole team from Trumpington Park who recorded an impressive 1744 points to win the title and improve on their 3^rd place finish from last year. There were vast improvements on last year from the teams from Milton who claimed 2^nd place and Bassingbourn in 3^rd.

There were also some great individual performances on the day, perhaps most notably from twins Maxime & Bronwen from Harston & Newton who finished as 1^st place boy and 1^st place girl in the small school’s event.

The event was supported by members of the Partnerships successful Leadership Academy programme with a team of over 40 sports leaders from Comberton Village College helping at both competitions. They demonstrated enthusiasm and great professionalism in running all of the events and acting as group leaders and helped ensure the primary school all left having had a memorable day.

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager said,

“It was a great day; it is always one of our favourite events of the year and this year certainly didn’t disappoint. There were some incredible performances and most importantly a lovely atmosphere as the children supported their teammates and showed great respect to their fellow competitors.

There were some excellent performances on the day so congratulations to all of the winners and well done to everyone who took part.

As always, we have to thank the sports leaders who organised and scored the events for us and encouraged every athlete to give their best effort, they did an outstanding job and we simply couldn’t have run the event without them.”