The minutes of the Friends meeting held at school on 1 March 2010 are here.

Ten children represented the school in a football match at New Haw Junior School this afternoon. The match was played on a large, adult-sized pitch, with matching adult-sized goals, which made for a new experience for most of the St Hugh’s players. Both sides wore red shirts, so St Hugh’s took to the field wearing yellow bibs.

New Haw took the lead after only about 20 seconds of the match, when a good pass from midfield found a striker running onto the ball in space and shooting home confidently from around the penalty spot. After such a disappointing start, the St Hugh’s team did very well to keep their heads up, and work their way back into the game. After about 15 minutes, Ethan won the ball with a strong tackle and then fired in a powerful shot, onto which Daniel perhaps got the final touch before the ball went into the net for a deserved equaliser.

The score did not stay level for long, however, as New Haw retook the lead with a goal following a corner. Soon after, the score was 3-1, with a goal that was very similar to the first goal of the match. Immdediately from the restart, Jacob C came close to scoring an extraordinary solo goal, dribbling past about 6 opponents all the way into the penalty box, before laying the ball off unselfishly to Tim, whose shot was crowded out.

Shortly before half-time, Ethan was very unlucky not to reduce the deficit, when a tremendous long range shot rebounded off a post. The half time score was 3-1 to New Haw.

In the second half, Marc made an excellent goal-line clearance, and Joseph made a number of outstanding saves. One, shortly before the end of the match, was a simply stunning save, using one hand to push a close range shot over the crossbar. Harry made some great tackles and interceptions while Jacob J and Fred showed composure and skill to turn defence into attack. Ethan and Jacob C ran non-stop, showing a lot of energy and skill in the middle of the pitch.

New Haw made the score 4-1 after a rebound from a fine save from Joseph was turned in. St Hugh’s came desparately close to pulling a goal back when Daniel and Tim linked well on the right; Tim’s powerful low cross was turned goalwards by James but was cleared off the line and in the resulting scramble David, Ethan and Jacob C were all denied by last ditch blocks.

In the end the match was won by the team who made better use of the space that was available on the large pitch. There was good play from players on both teams, however, and a lot of effort and commitment from everyone.

The squad was: Joseph, Fred, David, Tim, Jacob C, Jacob J, James, Ethan, Daniel, Harry, Marc.

Children in Year 6 led the school in assembly this morning.

The theme for the assembly was ‘Good and Evil’ which is the Here I Am topic each class is just beginning. The children shared some of the work that they have done in class, including balanced arguments on the subject of graffiti. They also included some wonderful singing and acting. There were beautiful prayers set to beautiful music.

Thank you very much to the children in Year 6 for leading such a thoughtful assembly, for the Year 6 staff who prepared them so well.

Congratulations to two Year 6 pupils, Isobel and Krystal, who represented the school in a public speaking competition on Monday evening. The competition took place in St Dunstan’s Church hall and was organised by the Catenians.

The two St Hugh’s candidates spoke very well and received many favourable comments from judges and from those in the audience. They were two of the youngest competitors, with the majority of the other children taking part coming from secondary schools. Well done to them both!

The two pages of this week’s newsletter are here and here.

The February edition of the Health and Well-Being Newsletter produced by Woking Borough Council is attached here. There are a number of items that may be of interest to parents and children, including information about this year’s Surrey Youth Games and about Easter and May half-term holiday activities for children.