Year 9 Kepier Elite Football Academy v ST Aidan's CE High School Harrogate

On Friday December 15th the quarter final of the English Schools Football Association Elite Cup was held here at Kepier. On a freezing cold day, yet again our boys put in a sterling performance against a very good side who had travelled up from Harrogate. Whilst Kepier had the bulk of the possession, the visitors were always in the game thanks to some tight defending and non stop running and tracking. Kepier's better use of the ball however gave them a 3 - 0 lead at half time.

Almost as soon as the second half kicked off, St Aidan's pulled a goal back and Kepier had to work hard to regain their three goal advantage, scoring a fourth soon afterwards and finishing the game off with a fifth towards the end of the half, resulting in a 5 - 1 victory. Kepier's scorers were Harry, Nathan, Ethan, Steven and Ryan.

We now await the draw for the semi-finals of the competition in January to find out our next opponents.

Well done lads!

Match report by Ethan and Ryan (Kepier Elite Academy Players)

Match report by Ethan and Ryan (Kepier Elite Academy Players)

This was another inspiring win for the boys. The team played like there was no tomorrow when they took on Dyke House in the third round of The English Schools Football Association National Cup.

Kepier relentlessly drove at the opposition despite the wind and rain. Dyke House put up a good first half with the scores being level at 1-1 until after the 20 minute mark, Kepier then managed to excel and put a further four goals past the line of defence causing the scores to be 5-1 at half time.

The first half was no easy task as wind speeds caused the ball to be in the air a lot but Kepier battled hard and had most of the possession. When Dyke House got the ball Kepier put a lot of pressure on their back four, eventually breaking down their line of defence.

The second half continued with the same amount of enthusiasm and drive with Kepier getting off to a flying start, breaking lines and threading passes through to the strikers.

Although Dyke House were losing they showed some great resilience with some good spells of defending preventing the ball from breaking through their lines.

The overall score finished with an outstanding 15-1 win, with Kepier advancing into the quarter finals of the English Schools Football Association National Cup to play Harrogate.

Scorers for Kepier were:

·         Lewis 3
·         Nathan 2
·         Ethan 1
·         Ryan  1
·         Logan 2
·         Harry 2
·         Max 2
·         Nathan 2

For Dyke House:

·         Keallen (OG)

Creative Writing publicity

A group of Yr8 learners were recently awarded the Kepier Young Writers
Certificate in recognition of their outstanding entries in the Young
Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.  The competition is the
UK’s only creative writing prize dedicated to historical fiction and
will be judged on historical relevance and accuracy, originality, a
good grasp of language, characterisation and plot – but above all
enjoyment in writing.

On behalf of the History Department, Miss Ross encouraged learners
from across the year group to enter; the standard of writing was
extremely high and included diary extracts and poems.  Of the many
entries, 10 learners were awarded a Kepier reward for their
outstanding work regardless of the eventual national winner.  The
quality and quantity of entries is testament to the school's ongoing
commitment to improve literacy skills and enthuse our learners with a
love of writing.

Year 9 Kepier Elite Football Academy

On an autumnal November afternoon here at Kepier, our Year 9 Kepier Elite Football Academy team took on Whickham High School in the second round of The English Schools Football Association National Cup.

In a close and hard fought first half, Kepier had large periods of possession, but struggled to find a breakthrough due to some excellent and spirited defending from Whickham. However, after 15 minutes of play a lovely through ball found Max in space just inside the penalty area, and an excellent strike saw the ball nestle in the bottom right hand corner of the goal.

Whickham continued to defend as a team, but the increasing pressure told as the first half was drawing to a close, with Kepier's second goal coming from Keallan.

The second half continued in the same vein, with Kepier having the bulk of possession. Inevitably, having spent the first half working so hard Whickham began to tire, and as space opened up Kepier ran in another five goals, from Lewis, Harry, Lucas, Harry for his second of the match and Dan. 

Although the 7 0 scoreline makes it sound a routine victory, it was anything but due to the hard work of the Whickham team right until the final whistle.

Kepier now progress into the third round, and await the draw to see who their next opponents will be.

Quicksticks Hockey Tournament

Quicksticks Hockey is an introductory game of hockey for 7-11 year olds designed to introduce young people to the game of hockey.  It is a 4-a side game and can be played on any surface, and is a fun, safe and exciting game to get children involved in sport.

Over 100 children took part from schools throughout the Houghton / Hetton Cluster. Teams that excelled on the day were from Bernard Gilpin Primary, Shiney Row Primary and Newbottle Primary, and they will now progress on to the city finals to represent their school on the 21st November.

Siobhan Cullen, PE Teacher at Kepier and our Primary Schools Sport Link, said "its great to see so many children from our partner primary schools enjoying themselves taking part in a sport that for many would have given them their first taste of hockey. All those who took part had a great time, and Kepier's Young Sports Leaders were vital in helping to organise and officiate the event."

Macmillan Coffee Morning

As always here at Kepier, staff and learners were keen to support the Macmillan Coffee Morning last Friday by bringing in a wide range of home made cakes.

These were then sold at break and lunchtime, with the efforts of all those involved raising £190 for Macmillan, with prizes award for the cakes judged to be the best of those brought in.

Mrs. Stephenson, Head of Science here at Kepier who organised the event, said "its great to see so many staff and learners making the effort to bake items to be sold for this wonderful cause, and all the cakes were clearly enjoyed as it didn't take us long to sell out!"

K J Dowell, a former pupil and now apprentice in our Catering Department, won first prize for his cake and is pictured here with Mrs. Cooper.

Visit to Oriental Museum, Durham

Our Year 10 GCSE Art and Design candidates have visited the Oriental Museum in Durham so as to learn about the Art and Cultures of the middle-east and Asia. They gathered information in the form of sketches and photographs so as to inform their emerging portfolio works, and were treated to introductions by the museums experts, who answered their questions on the subject and told anecdotal stories.

The Curator invited our learners to exhibit their work upon completion in January, and we will be exhibiting the 5 portfolios that in their opinion show strong influences from their chosen culture.

The resulting work forms part of the assessed portfolio of the students GCSE Art and Design.

Mr. Lightfoot, Head of Art here at Kepier, said "this was a wonderful opportunity for our young people to spend a day developing their thoughts and ideas for their portfolio of work. The staff at The Oriental Museum were wonderful, and the event will be of huge benefit for our students going forward."

Emily's outstanding GCSE results

One of our Year 11 learners who has just left us, Emily, achieved outstanding results in here exams here at Kepier, gaining 3 Grade 9's, 7 A* plus an A in Further Maths, results which place her in the top 0.4% in the country.

Emily is now moving onto Durham Johnstone 6th Form, where she is going to study Maths, Geography, History and French.

Emily said "although it was really hard work, I was helped so much by the teachers at Kepier, I don't think they realise how much difference they have made to me."

Principal Nicky Cooper said "we are all extremely proud of Emily. She has achieved such fantastic results, and we are over the moon for her. These grades represent some of the highest not just in this region but across the country as a whole."

KEPIER PROM 2017