LEH athletes enjoyed an exceptional week of sporting success, with standout achievements in swimming, netball and lacrosse. Our junior swimmers made school history at the ESSA National Finals, taking third place in both the freestyle and medley relays – LEH’s first top three finish in the event’s 67-year history. On the netball courts, teams across multiple age groups delivered strong performances, with the U16A squad securing a well-earned spot at the Regional Finals and several other teams recording impressive wins. Meanwhile, our lacrosse teams demonstrated great skill and determination in competitive fixtures against Wycombe Abbey and in hosting seven of the top lacrosse schools for the U18 South Schools tournament, where the Senior 1st team battled into the top eight. Overall, it was a week marked by talent, resilience, and outstanding commitment from all our players. See below for a write up on each sport.
Swimming
Our qualifying junior swimmers (Year 7 and 8) delivered outstanding performances at the English Schools’ Swimming Association (ESSA) National Finals in Birmingham on 15 November, securing third place overall in both the freestyle and medley relays.
The team went into the event seeded sixth in the freestyle and fourth in the medley, following qualifying rounds that saw an impressive 230+ schools take part. Rising to the occasion, every swimmer found an extra burst of speed, with the team cutting more than three seconds off their freestyle qualifying time and over a second off their medley qualifying time to surge into third place in both events.
This remarkable achievement is believed to be the first time in ESSA’s 67-year history that LEH Seniors have reached the top three so this is a historic moment for LEH.
Congratulations to all our swimmers on their exceptional performances!
Netball
On Sunday, our Senior 1st, U16A and U14A teams played in the County round of the National Schools tournament. This is the Middlesex county round, with the top two teams in each age group advancing to the Regional round. The Regional round is made up of the top two schools from Surrey, Middlesex, Kent and Essex. Again, with only the top two schools to go through to the National finals held in March.
The Senior 1st team had a tough group stage, facing four of the county school’s finalists. We started our campaign with a bang, beating St Benedict’s, South Hampstead, City of London and Latymer Upper School but narrowly losing to Godolphin & Latymer. This placed us second in the group where we faced a tough North London Collegiate side in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, NLCS won the game despite a fantastic performance. Well done to the whole squad who played brilliantly on the day.
The U16A and U14A teams both played well. The U14A’s won their first two games, performing strongly against their opposition. Sadly, they lost their other three matches so did not qualify for the play-offs despite some good match play.
The U16A team had a competitive group stage, winning three of their four matches, placing them in the semi-final. They won this match versus City of London convincingly, gaining them a spot in the Final but also securing their well-deserved place at Regional Finals! The team played St Pauls in the final, narrowly losing this match. We are delighted for the team on their overall success and look forward to the Regional Finals in the Spring Term! Well done to the team!
On Tuesday, the U15’s played against Godolphin & Latymer school. Well done to the A team who came away with a very comfortable win. Our B’ and C’s had 2 very highly contested games resulting with the B’s coming away with a draw and C’s narrowly losing out by one goal. Well done to Cecilia, Chinmyee, Madeleine, Mansha and Sasha who were named Players of the Match.
On Wednesday, the U13 netball teams had a great performance against Surbiton High School, despite the cold weather. All teams worked hard and showed great attacking and defensive play, resulting in four out of five wins. Congratulations to Genevieve, Grace, Immy, Alice and Emmeline for receiving MVP. Overall scores were: Scores – A: 14-15 B: 10-8 C: 5-0 D: 13-3 E: 16-3.
Lacrosse
The LEH lacrosse teams travelled for an afternoon fixture against Wycombe Abbey School on Saturday. The teams play with energy and enthusiasm putting their skills to great use. There were some great wins and some tough contests. A huge well done to all the players on their match play and commitment.
Our Senior 1st team took part in the U18 South Schools competition hosted by LEH on Thursday. Fifteen schools descended on the LEH campus to compete for the South Schools title, with two pools of eight. LEH had some great wins against Downe House, Haberdashers Elstree and NLCS. The team had some tight battles with St Albans and St Catherine’s, Bramley, ending in draws and two battling losses against Caterham and Berkhamsted.
The team scored 26 goals in seven games and earned a semi-final place in the Plate competition versus Guildford High School. LEH battled through to the end but unfortunately lost this match. The team had improved on last year’s final positioning, entering into the top eight of the tournament. Well done to the team for battling the cold and windy conditions and putting their best foot forward.
