Cuddington Croft’s shooting stars have eyes on the prize in the new year

Chelsea fans may be desperate for a change of fortune in the new year, but as far as the footballers of Cuddington Croft School in West Cheam are concerned, they will be hoping for more of the same as both their boys’ and girls’ teams compete in the county championships.

The Cuddington Girls A team secured their place at the competition by emerging victorious from the 20-team Epsom and Ewell borough tournament, securing the outright win with a penalty shoot-out triumph.

Their boys then kept their side of the deal, needing spot-kicks for victory in their semi-final before going on to avenge a group stage defeat by local rivals St Martin’s with a 2-0 win in the final, clinching the borough title for the first time and with it a place in Surrey finals, which take place in Woking in January.

“It was fantastic for the whole of Cuddington Croft and particularly the children involved that they both managed to reach their finals, came away with medals and have the county finals to look forward to in the new year,” said assistant head teacher Caroline Davis.

“Playing for school teams is a really important part of a child’s education, giving them an opportunity to put into practice so many of the messages we try and get across to them in the classroom, and encouraging them to think for themselves and work with one another. Just to see that is in itself a great thing. The fact they do it sufficiently well to win medals is even better."

Cuddington Croft is part of the GLF group of schools, a Surrey-based multi-academy trust which now runs over a dozen schools across the south east, based on a model of strong collaborative management.

“The teams’ performance was one of the high points of the term at Cuddington, said Miss Davis, “so we’re really hoping they can produce more of the same when they take the step up to the next level at the county finals in the new term. They’ve certainly earned a rest over Christmas – but don’t enjoy it too much!"