1Senior Schoollockheed Martin challenge

nurSeryVisit to Blue reef Aquarium

Sixth forMithaka Prize

Music, dance, modern theatre and laughter have filled venues throughout the school this term with pupils from the Junior School to Sixth Form

delivering outstanding performances.Junior School pupils brought the DRT to life with Year 3 and Year 5’s musical performances featuring everything from monsters and skeletons to dancing horses and very cheesy jokes. Senior School and Sixth Form House Drama provided much laughter with interpretations of beloved British sit-coms including Fawlty Towers, The Good Life and Father Ted. A small cast powerfully delivered Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential one-act play, No Exit, convincingly

conveying the torment and claustrophobia in this room of hell. Just this week, thought-provoking and emotive drama was brought to audiences by Year 9 and 10’s performance of Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful.

Many musical performances have carried us away on their uplifting melodies during the term. There have been lunchtime concerts, CD recordings, ensembles and soloists taking part in the Portsmouth

Music Festival. This year’s PGS Young Musician of the Year was a keenly fought contest, the Spring Concert showcased the variety of music talent in the school whilst PGS Evensong and the Gala Concert in St Thomas’ Cathedral in March were simply stunning.

If all the world’s a stage then this term PGS pupils have undoubtedly been filling it.

JuniorBook Week

All the School’s a Stage

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Boogie fever The excitement in the Nursery certainly steps up a gear when it’s time for Boogie Mites! The weekly music sessions encourage the children to work together, listen and respond and be considerate to all the other members of the group whilst having a lot of fun.

The children have learnt a wide range of songs – from healthy eating to recycling and the jungle – and

some dance moves that even Fred Astaire in his prime would have found challenging!

“The Boogie Mites music workshops have really improved the children’s listening and attention skills,” says Lois Johnson, Head of Nursery. “The children are absolutely captivated, and are even willing to tidy up at the end of the sessions!”

PGS YOUNG MUSICIANS 2014This year’s House Music was the largest and most hotly-contested yet. Over 120 pupils competed in the solo heats, with many more submitting work for the composition competition or competing as part of an ensemble. The Cathedral was host to the finals of the competition, adjudicated by Paul Wilson, former world-class opera singer and currently Head of Performing Arts at Whitgift School in South London. It was an astonishing evening of the highest quality, with each of the finalists giving tremendous performances. During the adjudication, the audience was also treated to performances from the winning ensembles, which ranged from trios through to the large Grant ensemble performing a brilliant arrangement of the Madness song Our

House. All performers should be very proud of their contribution to an utterly stunning evening.

The winners of the competition, and PGS Young Musicians 2014, were Rory Gillies (trombone, year 7-8), Finn Carter (clarinet, year 9-11) and William Wallace (organ, year 12-13), the overall victor was Grant House. The event was masterminded by the four superb House Music Captains: Clare Bartholomew (Grant), Alastair Gray (Latter), Sophie Rose (Smith) and Phoebe Carter (Whitcombe).

Private PeacefulThis year’s Year 9 and 10 play was Simon Reade’s excellent adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel, Private Peaceful. Chosen to commemorate the hundred years that have passed since the start of World War One, the play tells the tale of young Tommo Peaceful looking back over his childhood from the battlefields of the War.

Around 30 pupils from across the two year groups filled the many roles in the play, with still more making up the technical team. All involved put in a great deal of time and talent to bring this much-loved tale to vivid life in The David

Russell Theatre. On a ‘warscape’ set of slatted timber and barbed wire, the pupils took the audiences seamlessly from the front lines of the conflict to the idyllic landscapes of Devon, aided by atmospheric lighting and ambient sound.

In addition to the two public evening performances, the play was performed to members of the Junior School at a special matinée. Morpurgo’s work has a huge following across all age ranges and it was a credit both to him and to our talented pupils that the audiences were held rapt by this poignant story.

CO-CURRICULUM •

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CO-CURRICULUM •

BE PART OF THE CLUBJunior School children have been taking advantage of the huge range of before, during and after school clubs on offer this year. 95% have taken part in a club during the Autumn and Spring terms, with over 660 places filled each term!Back in 2012 Junior School pupils took part in a survey to see what sort of clubs they would like to take part in. The teachers rose to meet the challenge set by the requests which flowed from the suggestion box. The huge range of clubs currently on offer include construction to comic book-making, science to sewing and karate to quiz clubs. Cookery has been an ever-popular option, as have more sports clubs for the younger children. Pani Stylianou’s FunSport Football has been a popular addition to KS1 choices as has Jon Patterson’s Judo for Year Two. Across the whole of KS2 Street Dance has been introduced, again as a result of the pupil vote.

Pupils have recently taken part in another survey and 2014’s top three hopefuls are: Lego, basketball and… more cookery please! Let’s see if, over the next year, our ever-enthusiastic staff can again step up to provide these opportunities for their pupils.

Something stinks in Splodge city and it ain’t the drains…We were entertained this term by an enthusiastic Year Five performing the musical Ye-Ha!. Set in the Wild, Wild West of long ago. Splodge City needs a new sheriff to save the quickly decreasing population from the terror of Mad Dog MacNut and his gang. Salvation comes in the unlikely form of wimpy Wilbur Hubbard (and his trusty whisk) who would rather be Paul Hollywood than the new sheriff.

It is up, or down in the case of the villain’s pants, to him and his partner, Billy Jo (don’t call her a girl) Briskett, to save the day.

With a cast of eccentric characters complete with a dancing talking horse, Ye-Ha! certainly gave the audience a hilarious time. With memorable performances from the whole year, cheesy jokes and dreadful puns, cracking dance routines and catchy songs, the pupils should be justly proud of the work they did. Well done, Year Five!

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A Literary-Packed WeekThe Junior School was buzzing with activity for the whole of Book Week this year as authors and storytellers visited to bring literature to life.Throughout the week pupils from Reception to Year 6 experienced workshops, illustrations and songs. Very popular with the younger children was Jane Clarke who entertained them with her stories about Gilbert the Great White Shark. Other highlights included author Angela McCallister introducing pupils to her Writer’s Toolbox to help them write their own stories and Steve Smallman’s inspirational illustrations. Annabel Claridge’s novels helped the children to explore adventure novels and everyone was spellbound by Jamie Crawford as he enthralled the children with his unique story-telling skills.

The week culminated with the school being taken over by characters from an assortment of stories and books on Book Character Day! The highlight of this popular day in the school calendar was made more memorable with an entertaining performance by author John Dougherty who used songs to stir the children’s imaginations further. All this and the children still found time to create their own stories, poems, diaries and pictures.

ACADEMIC •

The Spring Term traditionally brings a flurry of activity for Senior School and Sixth Form pupils as they start to look at life after PGS. BEYOND PGS

Bristol, KCL, Warwick, Cardiff, Exeter, Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Queen’s, Belfast came along to the event.

There has also been a dizzying range of networking lunches to enable pupils to explore career options beyond PGS, with speakers on medical careers in the army, accountancy and management consultancy, a career in business, film-making and the challenges and opportunities facing women in business.

All these events have been very well attended, suggesting that PGS pupils are exploring their career options thoughtfully and taking their future careers seriously.

graphic design, politics, and over thirty other careers and professions.

A week later pupils from Year 10 upwards were invited to the inaugural Universities and UCAS Fair. 28 UK universities, including

We are delighted that Year 13 pupils have begun to receive offers to study a range of

interesting courses at a number of prestigious universities: from Law, English, Sport, Medicine and Business to Economics, Engineering, Criminology and Geography. In addition (fittingly for a naval city), pupils will be leaving to study Naval Architecture, Ship Science, Marine Biology and Oceanography next year. Thirteen pupils have received offers from Cambridge and Oxford this year, seven of which have been here since Junior School, and we have pupils applying to Harvard University and Trinity College, Dublin.

As pupils in Year 13 make their final university choices, Year 12 have begun

researching course and university options this term. In February, 60 Year 12s (and 40 Year 11s) attended an afternoon talk by speakers from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, in the DRT, where they had the opportunity to find out more about life at these institutions and about the unique process of application.

The PGS Careers and Gap Year Convention was particularly well attended this year, with several hundred visitors from PGS and other schools. Parents and pupils alike had the opportunity to talk with experts in finance, the armed services, law, veterinary science, art, gap year travel, midwifery, social work, policing, engineering, medicine, music technology,

Oxbridge candidates that joined PGS in the Junior School

THE PGS CAREERS AND GAP YEAR CONvENTION wAS PARTICULARLY wELL ATTENDED THIS YEAR

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DESERT RESCUEA Merlin helicopter has had to make a forced landing during a sandstorm; the heavy landing has caused the undercarriage to fail meaning it is unable to take off from the desert. A land based rescue is now required - what system would you build to rescue the helicopter?

This was the challenge posed to Year 9 pupils taking part in this year’s Lockheed Martin Engineering Challenge Day and it was one they grasped enthusiastically. With the help of a team of eleven engineers from Lockheed Martin pupils spent the day constructing crane systems to rescue the helicopter, solving problems and overcoming challenges such as budget constraints, material availability and the lack of time to continue evolving their ideas before the day ended.

“We’ve been running this day with Lockheed Martin for six years and it is something pupils refer to as inspiration when making subject option choices over the coming years” said Ben Goad, Head of Science at The Portsmouth Grammar School. “Each year the pupils are fired up to do well in the challenge, though for the first time this year some were so inspired that they voluntarily worked through their lunch break on their product presentations.”

The system created by the Challenge winners had a unique feature that gave them the edge; it could be flat-packed. “We thought about how it would be transported out to the desert,” said Tom Ross from the winning team. “Collapsing it down was an idea we came up with together.”

Gong xi fa caiC hinese New Year celebrations in the Nursery were bright,

colourful and a lot of fun. Mrs Xu, resplendent in a traditional dress, came in to talk to the children about

the festival, showing lots of wonderful pictures and bringing in fortune cookies for them to try.

The whole nursery was themed for the day; the imagination room became a Chinese restaurant complete with chopsticks, menus, lanterns and decorations. The chopsticks were a particular favourite amongst the children which meant a story called Cleversticks was read many, many times. The story is about a little boy who shows his school friends how to eat biscuits with chopsticks, so after listening to the story the children just had to try for themselves - using chopsticks to eat biscuits was quite a challenge!

Back in 1558Year 4 were whisked back in time to 1558, the year Elizabeth I became Queen as part of their History studies this term. In the morning their activities included candle, soap and locket-making, needlework and pretending to be the Barber Surgeon. Then in the afternoon they had a banquet to celebrate the Queen’s coronation, dancing and some pupils performed the play George and the Dragon.

Georgina Turner, a pupil in 4P recounts the day.

“On Wednesday 8th January we had Tudor Day at school. I came into school wearing a Tudor outfit, including a long skirt, an apron, a white shirt and waistcoat done up with laces. I also wore a cloth hat that a young girl in Tudor times might have worn.

I took part in many interesting activities. The activities that were there were; locket making, candle making, Tudor medicine, hand cream making, the barber surgeon, soap making and ink making. My favourite thing was making the soap because you got really messy!

We also had a Tudor feast. I thought it was amazing as we had fruit, ginger biscuits and much more!

At the end I learnt a Tudor dance and got to perform it at the banquet in front of the other classes.”

Star light, Star BrightPGS Sixth Form Science Ambassadors played a major role in this year’s BBC South contribution to Stargazing Live on BBC 2.Nine pupils, along with Mr Goad and Mr Thomas, worked alongside a team from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth. The pupils explained ideas about gravity and stellar spectroscopy to thousands of visitors to the Historic Dockyard.

BBC staff and leading researchers and professors in the field of cosmology

were extremely impressed by the communication skills of the pupils and their level of scientific knowledge. The pupils themselves worked extremely hard talking to a constant stream of visitors for over three hours. Sally Hall and Hugh Summers even carried out a live interview on Radio Solent explaining both scientific ideas and their own career aspirations.

ACADEMIC •

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one little, two little, three little fishes…One bright spring morning there was great excitement in the nursery, it was the day of the trip to the Blue Reef Aquarium! It is fair to say that the level of excitement increased slightly when the children realised they would be travelling in a PGS minibus, so it was a good way to start the trip.

As well as being able to walk round and see a spectacularly colourful selection of fish and sea creatures at the aquarium, the children were also able to touch some crabs and starfish. Around the tanks, the stingrays and sharks were a firm favourite along with the brightly coloured tropical fish.

Then it was back in to the minibus at the end of a fun morning.

TRIPS •

residential trip to cornwall provides inspiration for A level Art examinationsIn February, Sixth Form Art pupils travelled to Cornwall to gather first hand contextual research for their Art examination projects.

The YHA in Penzance was the base for the weekend and a number of galleries were visited in the local area, including:

Newlyn Art Gallery, The Exchange and Penlee House. At The Barbara Hepworth House and Gardens in St Ives, pupils undertook a drawing workshop with local artist Greg Humphries and learnt about Hepworth’s relationship with three-dimensional form and space. A particular highlight of the weekend was a practical workshop at Leach Pottery in St Ives with two resident potters; pupils were able to construct

coil pots and slab pots and even have a go on the potter’s wheel.

On the return trip, pupils were given the opportunity to visit The Eden Project in St Austell and experience the impressive biodomes. They enjoyed seeing ‘The Seed’ by renowned sculptor Peter Randall-Page in the centre of the Education Centre and climbing to the top of the viewing deck in the tropical dome to take in the fantastic views and experience the rainforest climate.

Sixth Form

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TRIPS •

neAr, fAr, WhereVer YEAR 2 ARE…On an incredibly chilly day early in the term, Year 2 headed off to the Naval Dockyard to visit HMS Bristol.

The visit was part of their topic work on the Titanic. The first thing that struck the pupils was how large she

must have been as the Titanic was four times the size of HMS Bristol. They all had a look over the side of the ship to see the distance to the sea below before heading inside to the warm. Once inside they looked around the cabins where there were stacks of three bunk beds – a few pupils tried them out and imagined themselves as third class passengers on Titanic.

Finally they went up to the salon to watch a clip from Titanic and learnt some more interesting facts before being evacuated from the ship. Luckily, because they were mostly women and children, they survived the adventure!

SNOwHEADSForty excited Junior School children headed off to the Alpine Winter Wonderland of Montgenevre over half term to hit the slopes.For six days they enjoyed four hours of expert ski-tuition each day, with two groups even ski-ing over in to Italy. The top skiers were lucky enough to ski through fresh powder and had an extra session on avalanches, learning about how they happen and how to rescue people. The intermediate group successfully completed a few black runs during the last couple of days, whilst the beginners

groups descended a couple of red runs and mastered the magic carpet, button and chair lifts!

It wasn’t just the slopes that were taken to during the week – ice-skating, bum boarding, the M-factor talent show, and souvenir shopping were some of the favourite off-piste activities, as was the end of day hot chocolate just before bed time!

Sing choirs of Angels…

46 members of the Chamber Choir, three Old Porthmuthians and ten members of staff spent the last few days of their Christmas holiday in residence at Jesus College, Cambridge recording a CD.The CD features a selection of music for Christmas written during the last 100 years, including several pieces by contemporary composers commissioned for PGS Carol Services. The CD will be launched at a special event in September and will be on general release, distributed by Convivium Records and Harmonia Mundi.

We were brilliantly hosted by Jesus College, staying in Library Court rooms and enjoying breakfast in the College Hall each morning. The college chapel is the oldest College building in Cambridge and boasts an incredible acoustic. A fantastic team of recording engineers from Convivium Records joined producer and legendary tenor Andrew King, who praised the choir’s commitment and professionalism, writing ‘meeting you and sharing the musical journey together was a great joy’.

THE CD wILL BE LAUNCHED AT A

SPECIAL EvENT IN SEPTEMBER

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THE PGS POLITICS FILESAn audience with House of Commons Speaker John Bercow MP.PGS Politics students enjoyed a lively question and answer session with the Right Honourable John Bercow MP earlier this term. Inside the Speaker’s private chambers Mr Bercow explained the challenges of his role in the House of Commons and fielded some thoughtful questions from the PGS pupils in attendance. With grateful thanks to Michael Keegan for making the arrangement possible.

Tour of the Churchill War Rooms Deep beneath Whitehall in central London lies a mazy complex of interconnected tunnels and offices that housed the command centre of the British government during the Second World War. Sixth Form Politics and Modern History pupils were given a fascinating tour of the Churchill War Rooms in early January which included the ‘Transatlantic Telephone Room’ and Churchill’s peculiar office-bedroom, from which he chaired many a bed-bound meeting.

Inside the Houses of ParliamentAll Year 12 Politics pupils enjoy a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament each year. This year 30 pupils were fortunate enough to tour the Queen’s robing rooms and Westminster Hall as well as the chambers of Parliament, voting lobbies and committee rooms. The experience further developed their understanding of the life and work of MPs as well as the history of the building and political processes within it.

Reception at the House of LordsIn February, in recognition of the school’s extensive links within the local community, four pupils were invited by Francis Davis (OP) to attend a reception in one of the state rooms of the House of Lords. The evening was hosted by Baroness Berridge of the Vale of Catmose, and also honoured the work of the Cathedral Innovation project here in Portsmouth. Phineus Jones, James Davies, Rohan Ahlawat and Joshua Rampton heard a number of speeches on social innovation and entrepreneurial projects within our wider community.

Visit to the UK Supreme CourtPolitics pupils visited the newly formed UK Supreme Court earlier this term. Established in 2009, the UK Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in England and Wales. Pupils were allowed access to all areas of the court rooms and heard about the role of the court. Several pupils were also able to sit in on a trial in progress, listening to five Supreme Court Justices weigh the evidence in a complex insurance case.

Penny Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North, visits PGSWe were very grateful to welcome Penny Mordaunt to the school earlier this term, who came to talk to the PGS Politics Society. The MP for Portsmouth North gave a lively and engaging talk on her life as an MP with extensive reference to her local knowledge and experience growing up in the Portsmouth area. The pupils asked her some challenging questions and examined her parliamentary commitments, her responsibilities as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and her daring performance in the ITV reality show Splash!

StoP PreSS:Around 20 Politics and History pupils will visit Washington and Philadelphia in October this year, taking in sights such as the White House, the United States Congress and various internationally famed Smithsonian museums. Report to follow …

All Aboard to Mark female SuccessTo mark International Women’s Day, the Royal Navy invited female pupils on board one of two major Royal Navy warships commanded by a woman, HMS St Albans.After a tour of the frigate the pupils took the opportunity to talk to the women officers informally about life in the Royal Navy. Apart from the roles of the different sections of the Navy, they heard about some examples of tasks it is possible to be involved in protecting British interests, such as policing the transportation of our vast amounts of imports on the seas. It was also pointed out how vital it is for their generation to be involved in the invention, design and manufacture of products for

Britain to export in the future.There were some great role models for

them, including Lt Cdr Jenny Curwood and also Commander Catherine Jordan, who had a first degree in law, joined up to fly helicopters and now also has a young family.

“I really enjoyed the visit, in particular the engineering department,” said Lana Watt in Year 10. “I like the idea of flying helicopters so getting the chance to talk to the captain was great.”

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WWi ArchiVeS inSPire YEAR 9 ART PROJECT

The surroundings of the Square Tower were the perfect venue for an evocative display of Year 9’s Art Project work inspired by

their visit earlier this term to the World War One Remembrance Centre on Portsdown Hill.Following the visit to the Centre, pupils had an informative talk from John Sadden, the School Archivist, who gave them an overview of WWI through a wide variety of artefacts from the PGS archive. Back in the classroom, pupils produced detailed biro drawings and careful etchings of some of the WWI artefacts from the Remembrance Centre.

Artist-in-Residence, Patti Gaal-Holmes, encouraged the pupils to consider the idea of fragmentation and narrative through the creation of Artists’ Books. In a workshop with Patti, the pupils were encouraged to splice the archival

imagery and explore the relationships between text and photograph.

The pupils then selected one page in their handmade books and this was enlarged on the scanner – the grainy, monochrome outcomes emphasised the nostalgic qualities of the imagery. The emotive text which accompanies their drawings was written by the pupils in response to their imagery; it was informed by the archival records and their own personal, sensory interpretations of the material.

Keep ithaka Always in your MindThe celebration of the creativity, resourcefulness, evaluation, research and knowledge of our pupils and the work they put in to their PGS Extend and IB Extended Essay projects took place in March under the watchful eye of Rear Admiral John Lippiett, CEO of the Mary Rose Museum in the Historic Dockyard. The Ithaka Prize is the school’s award for the culmination of the creative journey for the best overall project.

This year, pupils once more submitted essays on a vast range of subjects from the history of Drayton and Farlington to a study on the

vampire through literature, factors affecting the progression of Multiple Sclerosis and an exploration of ekphrastic poetry.

The winner of this year’s Ithaka Prize was Aladdin Benali for his study into the frequency of Anglicisms in French, and the validity of the attitude of linguistic purism towards such Anglicisms - his entire extended essay was written in French.

Congratulations to all the finalists and to those that were highly commended for all their work and commitment to their projects.

terrible tiesWe were left wondering about the content of parents’ wardrobes this term as an array of truly hideous ties appeared in the Quad. Luckily it was all to raise funds and awareness for Ben’s Heroes Trust, a children’s cancer charity and the charity of choice for Eastwood House . The Middle School’s huge display of bad taste raised nearly £200 and posed the question, ‘what else from the wardrobe can be raided for charity..?’

Lauren HughesMia Austin

Louis Greaves

Ajay Patel

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SPORT •

Climb Every HillsideIn a change from our normal routine, nearly 200 pupils in Yrs 10 and 11 and 25 staff spent their annual DofE training day up at South Harting on a glorious spring day in March. Ahead of their training and actual expeditions, pupils learned to cook on trangia gas stoves, to navigate using map and compass (a bit of a struggle for some) as well as general camp craft and the countryside code. It was fantastic to see the pupils enjoying themselves with their friends, and excitement is now building as they move towards the training expeditions next term.

Awarding initiativeThe inaugural DofE Presentation

Evening took place at the end of January and was set up to celebrate

the fantastic achievements of the pupils in completing their Bronze and Silver Awards over the last year. The evening showcased the many opportunities open to our pupils and, in particular, focused on the key features of the Awards, namely independence, enterprise, initiative and leadership. It was brilliant to hear from pupils themselves as

they talked about their experience of the Award, and so by the end of the evening, we all had a flavour of all that they have done to earn it.

We were especially delighted to welcome the High Sheriff of Hampshire, Mr Rupert Younger, as our Guest of Honour and he presented the awards to the pupils with a rallying cry to volunteer in the community and to use the skills gained from the DofE Award for the good of society as a whole.

A SPORTING STARTThe Year 3 girls (or U8’s) have had a great start to their sporting careers this year.

In both games lessons and matches they have all played with enthusiasm and shown great potential and ability. For some it has been their first taste

of netball and hockey and they have all made a start to mastering the intricacies and complexities of both sports. As the year has gone on their playing skills have developed greatly and they have taken their match play to a high level.

All the girls have had the opportunity to play in inter-school games, along with House matches in both sports. Many of the girls have also taken part in the sports sessions at Hilsea on a Saturday morning and have attended early morning practices during the week at school.

After such a great start we are really looking forward to seeing the U8 girls achieve great things during their time at PGS.

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SPORT •

fAreWell 1ST XvThis term we bid farewell to our current 1st XV rugby team. The current Year 13 team have had a fantastic playing record over their seven years in the Senior School. Playing their last 15-a-side game against Reigate Grammar School earlier in the term they treated the crowd to some champagne rugby which was a fitting way for them to sign off.

Portsmouth young Sports PersonIn January we were delighted to hear that Year 10 pupil Luke Robins was presented with the award for Portsmouth Young Sports Person.The Portsmouth Young Sports Award is run by the City of Portsmouth Sports Council and seeks to recognise achievement and dedication in young sports people. Luke, who is a swimmer with Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club, received the award for his dedication to training and the level he is competing at. He was presented with the award, which consisted of a trophy and a grant of £500, before the Full Sports Council meeting.

Luke said: “I get up at 4:20 and start training at 5am doing land based drills and then training in the pool. After school I train again from 5 – 7 pm four days a week.”

“I really enjoy the Easter Meet at Mountbatten Centre as it’s at a very hard level. I’m going to the Scottish Commonwealth Games trials so my ambition would be to get a space in the team even though it’s unlikely at my age. But the grant will really help me with my training in the future!”

When they were U13’s

Shooting for the top! The Spring term has been incredibly busy but successful for all our Netball teams, not least the U16’s who made it all the way to the National Finals in March.The term began with a very close encounter with Canford School which they won 25-24 with just seconds left on the clock. At the South Regional Finals just a few weeks later they had a great day with a nail-biting victory against Thornden in the semi-final which secured them a place in the National Finals.

The squad headed up to Liverpool in March to compete and after two disappointing defeats in the

first matches, the girls regrouped and played some outstanding netball. A last minute equaliser against King Edward VIII in the third game gave the girls the boost they were looking for and they then went on to win their remaining 5 games narrowly missing out on a semi-final spot by just 1 point. The shots started to fly in from Ashleigh Dekker and Megan Dennis, fed beautifully by Issy Stancliffe at centre with the defensive unit of Maisie Sharpe

and Jess Waldon Day turning over the ball at every opportunity. They finished 5th overall in the tournament which is a very impressive achievement, and with 7 of the squad being U15, they will, hopefully, get another opportunity next year!

A FESTIvAL of RUGBYThis term we hosted the inaugural PGS Under 8 and Under 9 Rugby Festivals, an event that despite the somewhat threatening weather passed with lots of excitement from players, parents and staff.The festival was set up to promote the development of our young rugby players and encourage the spirit of the game. There were a total of 25 teams representing 16 schools which meant that over 250 boys were playing rugby throughout the afternoon at Hilsea Playing Fields.

It was great to see such enthusiasm from the players and the stamina they showed to play 7 mini matches was incredible.

PGS U9A team managed to qualify for the Cup group which was a great achievement. The PGS U9B team showed a battling spirit throughout the afternoon ending the day in the Vase group.

The PGS U8 Lions and Sharks finished top of each group managing to finish the afternoon undefeated and the PGS Eagles also played well showing the running rugby that we are promoting.

The spirit of the game was certainly alive and kicking!

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