On Friday 11th May, 42 students, accompanied by Mrs Murphy, Mrs Elliott, Mrs Lowry, Mrs King and Miss Hinds, travelled to Barton Hall, Torquay for a weekend of netball and fun.

Unfortunately, our usual visit to the beach for a paddle and picnic was cut short as the rain came in. However, it didn’t dampen everyone’s spirits and some were still brave enough to paddle!

On arrival at the centre, after orientation and dinner, the girls took part in some quite competitive sports and games team activities. PGL activities including zipwire, aeroball, archery, climbing, abseiling, swimming and giant swing were also on offer throughout the weekend.

 The netball competitions began on Saturday and continued into Sunday. They were run by All England netball and were of a very high standard, with teams competing from all over England and Wales. Our Year 7 ‘B’ team played very well and everyone improved enormously as the weekend progressed. Our Year 7 ‘A’ team played exceptionally well, reaching the semi-finals, and finishing as bronze medallists in 3rd place. A highlight was a 35-0 win during a 16 minute match – outstanding shooting from Amelia and Emily! Our Year 8 team played very well on both days and disappointingly just missed out on a semi- final place, finishing 5th overall. Our Year 9 B team, made up of year 8/9 played really well against tough opposition from some year 10 teams, especially considering that they don’t usually play together. They improved tremendously during the weekend and had some very close matches. After a slow start on Saturday, our Year 9A team played very well in their matches reaching the semi-final on Sunday. The match was a really closely fought one, which we unfortunately lost 5-7, finishing as bronze medallists in 3rd place. Well done to all of the girls for their effort, commitment and spirit.

Thank you girls and well done to all of you. You were a great credit to St. Martin’s. Thank you also to all of the staff who gave up their time to come along to look after you.

D. Murphy