Success stories aplenty
No fewer than five pupils were rewarded for their excellent preparation with various belts across a number of levels at a special assessment.
The budding martial artists are part of the Little Dragons group at John Lynn’s Black Belt Academy, which is situated on Conway Road in Colwyn Bay.
Reception pupil Charlotte Knight produced a fantastic effort to gain her yellow belt, while the Year 2 pair of William Cheesley and Floyd Curtis bagged a green and purple belt tab respectively.
There was further success in the form of Year 3 pupil Dominic Chamberlain, who secured a purple belt tab, and Ellie Knight is now just a few steps away was gaining a prestigious black belt after performing brilliantly in her brown belt assessment.
All five received their belts and praise from Master Lynn (8th dan) and they have already set their sights on further success at the next grading in June.
Mr McDuff, said: “This is yet more fantastic work from our pupils outside of the classroom and all of them are to be congratulated on their efforts.”
Year 6 pupil Matthew Stubbins produced a stunning effort to come away with a winners’ medal from the National Topper Championships, which were held at Carsington Reservoir.
The 11-year-old caught the eye in his first ever national event, and finished the day by securing the Age 12 category despite being one of the youngest competitors in the field.
The gifted sailor, who is a member of the RYA Cymru North Wales Regional Topper Squad, coped well with both the pressure and the blustery conditions to cross the line first and add to his growing list of accolades.
Mr McLeod, said: “What Matthew has been able to do in just a short time sailing is absolutely fantastic, and to achieve so much in his debut national event gives everyone at Rydal Penrhos a special sense of pride.
“He is just one of many talented sailors we have at both our prep and senior sites, with the school programme producing a number of national squad members thanks to the tireless work of our staff.
“If Matthew continues his rapid rate of progression then he has a massive future in the sport.”
Skiers battled it out for bragging rights at the annual inter-house competition recently.
The competition took place during the final ski session of the season, and there were a number of exceptional performances throughout the close-knit affair.
In the first group, Agatha Favill’s time of 17.40 seconds looked to be enough to secure a victory, only for Dylan Lloyd-Bloom to hurtle down the slope in a swift 16.62.
Other notable times came from Ellis Lister-Brookes, Zac Hay and Laurence Richardson.
Next up was the squad group, which saw the standard set by Henry Hibbert with a blistering run to secure a time of 15.90 seconds.
This was bettered by ski captain Ariana Milligan, who led by example once again to set the fastest time of the day at 15.81 seconds.
Once all slalom times had been correlated, Pembroke were crowned runaway winners with an average time of 17.72 seconds, followed by Snowdon and Brecon with times of 21.26 and 24.4 respectively.
Martha-Rose Johnson, who began Year 2 last term, successfully completed her 50 metre distance award at Cheadle Swimming Pool.
The impressive feat is made even greater by the fact she is just six-years-of-age, and during a chat with Mr McDuff the swim star stated the triumph only took her “a couple of minutes”.
It proved to be a highly successful first week at the school for the pupil, who was also given Star of the Week at Celebration Assembly for adjusting seamlessly and settling in so well.
Mr McDuff, said: “This is quite an achievement for someone so young, and it is great to see that Martha-Rose has hit the ground running with us at the Prep School.
“She has settled in superbly and I am sure that this will be the first in a long line of successes we will hear about during her time with us.”
The U11 netball side travelled to nearby St David’s College and produced another outstanding display to come away with a 7-0 success.
There were a number of impressive performances throughout the triumph, with Ariana Milligan and Eve Durrans combining well in the early stages to help get Rydal Penrhos in front.
This pattern of play continued during a dominant first period, with the likes of Lily Davies, Caitriona Searl and Martha Hind working extremely hard, while the sharp-shooting of Phoebe Pritchett and Ruby Merrick gave them a four-point cushion at the interval.
After the break saw us continue to launch a constant stream of attacks thanks to some impressive play from Phoebe Pritchett and Melissa Vos, leading to three more goals to complete the victory.
Prep School head Roger McDuff, said: “It has been an outstanding season for our netball squad and their togetherness and talent makes them a joy to watch.
“They have achieved so much during their time together and I am sure that each and every one of them will make a significant contribution to the senior school side next year.”