Rounders is an integral part of summer sport at Shenley Brook End School. The game invokes a real sense of teamwork, strategy and commitment; something we regularly see throughout our school teams.
We are a large secondary school in Milton Keynes and host the ‘Milton Keynes Secondary School Rounders Tournaments’. This gives us the opportunity to invite up to 15 local secondary schools to attend. Our field has seven pitches that we can use at the same time, so as you can see we are very lucky. We are normally very successful in the tournaments, many of our teams make it through to the finals.
Recently Shenley’s Year 10 team batted their way to a tight run for the finals. Finishing with the same points as two other schools in the pool, it came down to just one rounder to secure our place in the next stages. A low scoring final saw Shenley Brook End finish in second place to local school Denbigh. With outstanding batting and fielding the score was 3-2. Shenley were on form, getting many of the Denbigh side out at first base. Sadly for us, Denbigh’s final batter hit the ball beyond our deepest fielder giving them the opportunity to make it the whole way around to gain the final rounder.
Rounders training is offered weekly for Years 7 to 13 and is also one of the main summer sports we offer from April onwards as part of the curriculum. PE is a highly valued subject at our school with all students participating in a KS4 qualification, with the option to complete an additional in-house sports leadership course. As part of the Leadership Diploma students have recently visited local primary schools to teach and develop rounders in their schools. This also links into the Primary School Rounders Festivals which are also held at our school and run by our young leaders.
Finally, a sports day would not be complete without its share of rounders. With the whole school off timetable for the day, students participate in sports tournaments followed by the more traditional athletics events. Up to twenty teams at any one time will be participating in these tournaments.
Sam Arkison
PE Teacher
