​Marden youngsters crowned county champions

​Pupils from Marden Lodge School in Caterham knocked the opposition out of the ballpark the other week as they were crowned Surrey Primary Schools’ rounders champions.

Despite only fielding one team as opposed to the two that many of their rivals put into the competition at De Stafford School, and that team having a squad of nine rather than the 10 permitted, Marden’s Years Five and Six team recovered from a narrow defeat in their opening match to go on to take the title.

“Considering the team’s circumstances in comparison to some of the opposition, to perform so well was a huge achievement, but to win overall was absolutely incredible,” said Year Three teacher Matt Van Opijnen, who took charge of the team.

“We came top of the nine-team competition, and the teams we beat into second and third place had their B teams win the lower tier competition, which shows the strength in depth some of the other schools had – but our Marden Lodge team were still too good for them.”

The victory is another milestone in the progress of sport and PE at Marden Lodge, which has been a member of the GLF Schools multi-academy trust since September 2013.

“I’ve really tried to get the children motivated about sport and exercise since I came to the school, and it’s really paying off,” said Mr van Opijnen.

“We have internal competitions in cross country running, netball, football and gymnastics, and we even offer such innovative but hugely interesting options as parkour. If you can come up with something the children genuinely want to do, then they motivate themselves and it makes learning so much easier and more enjoyable. There’s a real buzz around physical activity at Marden Lodge, so the fact that the whole school now has a trophy to show for it is something we can all be really proud of.”