In what proved to be a ‘mega Monday’ for the school this week, the U14 netball team won the Sisters n Sport National Bowl. This was followed a few hours later by the U16 girls’ rugby team winning the Bowl competition at the Rosslyn Park National School 7s.

Principal Nick Martin: “This must be the most successful day of girls' sport in the history of Samuel Whitbread Academy.

“This is testament to the hard work and dedication of students, staff, and parents, who have set themselves the target of performing at the highest level of sport in the country and have delivered on that mission in two different sports within the same week.

“It's an incredible achievement and as a headteacher I couldn’t be any prouder.”

In the netball, finals day was held at Loughborough University. Samuel Whitbread beat Kirkham Grammar School 44-23 in their semi-final, before overcoming Churcher’s College 22-17 in the final.

Head of PE Jimmy Hart said: “Our girls played with great maturity and successfully beat a very strong Churcher’s side to be crowned Bowl champions.

“This is an incredible achievement for Year 9 sport. Many independent schools have their pupils for five or six years prior to being in Year 9, so given that our girls have only been playing together since September, it’s an even more impressive achievement and bodes well for the future.”

At Rosslyn Park – the world’s largest school rugby tournament – Samuel Whitbread battled through the group stages and then four knockout games to win the Bowl, beating Hayes School 38-17 in the final.

Mr Hart said: “Playing sevens rugby on a full-size pitch is very hard work and after playing six games – 84 minutes of rugby in total – we came away as Bowl winners.

“It was certainly a great day for girls’ sport.”