Gloucestershire School Games

We have left most of this page intact to capture the fantastic School Games Programmes we supported and in archery terms organised.

However following the Covid crisis, the format and focus of the School Games has changed and at the same time our coaching structure and club focus has also evolved. This will limit our involvement in the near future, work will still take place in some schools that meets our club agenda, this situation will be reviewed annually.

Since 2012, the schools games become bigger every year, thanks to Xperience Archery who we partner in these programmes.  Competitions involving Primary & Secondary schools from all across the county are held over the school year. Secondary during the winter and spring terms, Primary during the summer term.

Members of Deer Park Archers (comprising coaches & volunteer coaching assistants) help during the year to support this amazing programme and Active Gloucestershire played a huge part in the success of the activities!

The School Games give the efforts throughout the year a purpose and focus, which are a key factor in developing sport in the county!

School Games Finals have been successfully held at Hartpury College for several years and have seen hundreds of archers from schools across the county compete on a team and individual basis. This is a fantastic way to engage pupils in sport throughout the year.

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What we do

Working in partnership with Xperience archery we run lunch time, in curriculum time and after-school clubs in Primary, Secondary, College, Recreation Centres and Special Needs Schools. Providing help with the coaching, equipment and the general supervision as required. In parallel the club supports the development of coaches and encourages pathway links with other local clubs. Organising inter-school competitions and the Gloucestershire school Games which are open to all pupils that are competent archers, is also a key focus for the us.  In addition, we support activity days, house matches, GCSE, D of E etc. and are seeking to involve pupils that enjoy shooting, officiating or generally volunteering to support the sport. Club members also train School ‘Sports Leaders’ to deliver ‘Arrows’ (archery for 5-7 year olds) in the Primary schools.

Our sport is very inclusive and are more than happy to work with a range of physical disabilities and SEN pupils. Our sport brings the best out of those tagged as ‘non sporty’ and we have had some amazing results from that population. Some going on to become British Champions!

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2019 School Games – Secondary

Late March 2019 saw our first Secondary School Level 3 County Finals taking place at Cheltenham College, where teams of 12 battled it out, qualification/ranking rounds in the morning, head2head eliminations in the afternoon.

The finalists had qualified through District Finals that had taken place at various locations during the indoor winter season. As a consequence of running the programme during the winter season the teams were much stronger and competition levels much higher!

Following every type of weather possible during the qualification rounds, we had some pleasant sunshine in the afternoon and despite some close encounters in the quarter finals the top 4 seeds emerged, Balcarras, Stroud High, Denmark Road and Sir William Romney in that order.

Despite close matches, the results followed form and Balcarras, who certainly raised their game triumphed one again.

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2019 School Games – Primary

The Primary School programme including the District finals completed during March, April & May. The culmination of a year’s activities in school clubs which take place after-school, lunchtimes, breakfast and in-curriculum time is the finals days which are fantastic. Teams have to qualify for the finals by winning their District finals which can see as many as 20 teams competing for just 2 places from each district!

17 major qualification events, 125 teams of 9, totalling 1125 Archers, seeking just 2 places from each of the 5 District Finals to achieve the honour of competing at Hartpury!

Our team of 10 coaches helped by students from Hartpury delivered another superb experience for all those involved. With a qualification round in the morning, the top 5 teams reaching the Genesis Finals and the bottom 5 competing for position and medals using the adapted kit.

Both Finals in the afternoon lived up to expectation, especially the Genesis final with new winners in Sapperton with a staggering average of 9.1 per arrow. 

Sapperton were deserved winners. Previous multiple winners Hillview finishing second and Callowell winning Bronze.

For the first time in 2019, Sapperton Primary School Winners were invited to Archery GB HQ, got to shoot and visited the Performance Unit hosted by Naomi Folkard!

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2018 School Games – Primary

The 2018 School Games Campaign which continue to grow and offered more than a 1000 pupils the chance to compete against other schools!

Congratulations to all the teams that competed, the standard this year was incredible! Well done to Hillview, this year’s Primary Champions!

As usual XPA’s organisation was superb and Active Gloucestershire’s organisation and supporting activities great, as was the venue!

Deer Park had 12 coaches present on the Primary School Finals Day and this ensured a smooth run event, with some outstanding shooting.

Thursday was the Primary event, with 10 teams competing. During the morning the teams did a qualification score with the top 5 going through to the ‘sharp stuff’ finals and the next 5 through to the adapted equipment final.

In the afternoon we had the 2 finals. Hillview shot brilliantly throughout and secured yet another team medal at a Level 3 final! Callowell finished strong in 2nd place. Hempsted and Sapperton finished on a tie leaving 3 archers from each team to have a 1 arrow shoot off, Sapperton finished 3rd!

In the adapted equipment final John Moore won, with Whitminster finishing in the silver medal position and Fairford picking up the bronze!

In the individual competition the Forest did incredibly winning 2 golds and a bronze! (Gold and a bronze for Lydney, gold for Newnham). Hillview won 2 silvers and Callowell a bronze in the individual boys!

2018 School Games – Secondary

The secondary day there was 4 teams competing, 9 archers scoring with 3 reserves. Balcarras took an early lead and whilst Kingshill did their best to keep up with them just didn’t have the strength in depth!

The format was in 3 stages, team total scores, head to head round Robin and finally 9 archers from each team shooting a single arrow each over a number of rotations, creating great excitement!

Final results: 1) Balcarras, 2) Kingshill, 3) Stroud High, 4) KLB

In the individual Kingshill won gold in the boys competition and silver in the girls, Stroud High won the gold in the girls category. KLB also picked up 2 individual medals, and Balcarras 1.

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Gloucestershire School Games – Primary Medallists

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Gloucestershire School Games – Secondary Medallists

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