Herdie Escapes!

Our small but determined orienteering team put in a brave effort to retain the Herdie trophy - but were outnumbered this time.  Ed, Harvey Patrick and Isaac all managed some good runs - with Ed achieving a second place overall on one of the courses. The team show a great deal of potential and have every chance of bringing Herdie home from a future event. Well done the four of you...a brilliant effort!

Football Champions!

The Burlington Trophy Cabinet has a new addition!  Congratulations to the A team players who played 6 matches in the Haverthwaite Small Schools' Tournament today.  They won 4 and drew 2 of their matches, only conceding 3 goals in the whole tournament, whilst scoring an impressive 12!

Bryn, Lauren and Jacob were fearless in defence. Ross, Ed, Jack and Harvey attacked with force and communicated well - each hitting the back of the net throughout the tournament.  

Team Captain, Lauren kept up with the boys and wasn't afraid to go in for some successful tackles, managing to clear the ball away on numerous occasions.   As always, team spirit and sportsmanship was fabulous - a credit to school and parents alike.  Well done!

Orienteering training at community centre

Years 3-6 enjoyed their orienteering training at Kirkby Community Centre on Monday afternoon. Lecky and Selwyn prepared a variety of carefully graded courses to develop the children's confidence and understanding.  Their electronic dibbers and computer software provides instant feedback on accuracy and speed, ensuring each child can make progress.  Click here for results

The first Herdie competition takes place next Monday at Croftlands Junior
School, Ulverston. Whilst, it will be a difficult task to retain Herdie for the 5th consecutive time, after the transition of last year's Year 6 stars; we do have a rapidly developing team with great potential. So good luck everyone...enjoy...try your hardest...be good sportsmen, and the rest will fall into place.

Check back for a full report next week.

Football success

Today's first match of the Autumn term saw Burlington take a 12-0 win against Broughton.  Unfortunately, I missed the match but Mrs Goodson has reported back to say how proud she was of our players for being so humble in their victory...something the pro's could do with learning.
So - well done Ross, Jack, Eddie, Harvey, Bryn and Lauren.  A dream team!

Herdie stays with Burlington flock!

For the fourth consecutive time we retained the Herdie trophy. Today's event was on home ground at Kirkby Community Field. Nerves were apparent nonetheless and everyone was glad to get the first of their two runs done. They were fast courses today and speedy legs were required.
Impressive results from everyone today with special mentions to the following...
Patrick for continuing his clear round reputation, Eddie for two clears including an impressive 3rd place! Harvey for his first ever clear round putting him in first place! Ross for his speedy legs, Carrie and Imogen  for two reliable clear rounds each, Merryn for a first place clear round and Charlotte who bizarrely came equal first with Harvey...I wonder what the statistical odds were for that happening?  And so, after this we lose our fabulous year 6 athletes but I have a quiet optimism that we may well manage to give Herdie a home at other times next year given the rising talent in our younger squad. Well done everyone...you all did such a great job yet again.
Check out results which should be posted soon on the lakeland orienteering club website.

Carlisle County Finals

16 children from Burlington travelled to Carlisle yesterday to represent the Furness district in Orienteering and Tennis.  Looking like pro's in their jackets with "Burlington" across the back they competed with pride and outstanding ability in their sporting events.
The orienteering team came 3rd overall with a fantastic array of clear runs ( no mistakes).  Sam really impressed us with two clears even though it was his first event (he was standing in as a reserve).
Well done Merryn, Charlotte, Imogen, Carrie, Eleanor, Hattie, Matthew, Sam, Bryn, Ross, Eddie and Patrick.
The tennis team played and won many of their matches making it through out he semi finals. They finished 4th overall - a fantastic result! Well done to Lily, Megan, Jacob and Harvey.
We all also had lots of fun in the opening and closing ceremonies. What a hot and exciting day! Once again I feel proud of your achievements. Your attitude, behaviour, fairness and team spirit was impressive. Thankyou and well done! Now... Time to train for next year...!

Sports day fun!

We all enjoyed our school sports day on Thursday. The weather couldn't have been more perfect with warmth, sun and a kind shelter of cloud.  It was a delight to see everyone busily moving around the events: lots of smiles and a strong team spirit. Well done to all who took part. I was so impressed with the younger children who insisted on a fun run after all their events were over ( I confess to thinking it would be too much for them but they certainly proved me wrong!). A fantastic performance - clearly inspired by the brave key stage 2 children who completed their two laps. We will have to add that one in to next year's sports day.  Well done in equal measures to the winners and the runners up. We have some talented children at Burlington. 

Also, thanks to the PTA for a fantastic catering job  - much appreciated!

Photos to follow.

Girls cricket tournament.

We had a fab day at Dalton cricket ground on Wednesday.  The girls only event consisted of 12 teams split into two groups of 6. Burlington won all 5 of their games in their group (v Ireleth, St George's, Holy Family, St Columbus and South Walney). Unfortunately we lost in the Semi Final despite some excellent bowling.  Overall we finished 4th.  We were the only team to bowl correct overarm from all players and their technique and accuracy was impressive. Well done to Ellie, Sarah, Imogen, Eleanor, Carrie, Merryn, Charlotte and Hattie! (Is their anything you girls can't do?!)

More county finalists

Burlington will be representing the Furness area for tennis and orienteering at the County School Games finals on 1st July. Our year 3 & 4 tennis team have been selected after their fantastic results at Dowdales and Ulverston tennis centre. Having Gary Weatherburn to work with our school has been a real help. Well done to Jacob, Harvey, Lily and Megan!
We therefore now have 16 children going to the games ...we have the largest number of children going and we are the smallest school to qualify in this area!
Thankyou to the PTA who are helping us to top up the school team kit so that we look and feel the part. We will have Burlington across the backs of the team jackets...very smart.
We are nearing the end of our competitions for this year. We have entered more children in more events and had more success than ever before.  We have actually got quite a reputation in the area for our sport ( one teacher asked me what we put in the water in Kirkby!). Though as I always tell the teams...the comments that come in (at every event) about how lovely our children are, makes me more proud than a win ever can ( though wins are up there also!)
Well done everyone!

Tennis stars

8 Burlington children played in a tennis tournament at Dowdales this morning. Team A was Megan, Lily, Harvey and Jacob whilst team B was represented by Will, Isaac, Lauren and Keira. Both teams played really well and thoroughly enjoyed their morning out. B team came 3rd in their competition whilst A team came 1st winning 13 out of 16 of their matches! A team have qualified for the Furness area finals in June. We really are on a winning streak in our sport at the moment.
What has been really fantastic is the fabulous sporting attitudes, behaviour and team spirit from all our children at the range of sporting events during winning and losing. That really is the most important aspect. Well done everyone!

Herdie Hat-trick and County Final Qualifiers!

What an amazing day for our Burlington orienteering team.    The event took place today at Barrow Park with over 160 children taking part.  The event was a combination of the Herdie trophy event (won by us on the previous 2 events) and the Furness area qualifier for the School Games County Finals (schools version of the Olympics in Carlisle!).  We knew we had a strong team, but we equally were aware that we would be the smallest school at the event with some schools having 60 children to choose from in one year group!
Burlington really showed that it is quality not quantity that counts!
The full sheet of results hasn't been published yet but we know we had overall 1st, 2nd and 3rd place girls being Merryn, Charlotte and Carrie respectively.  The rest of the team's positions will be confirmed soon and I suspect they will be largely impressive as we had a lot of clear rounds and some quick times.
Matthew, Ed and Patrick Stephenson had fabulous runs for the A team with clear rounds from all 3 of them and Eddie just pipping Matthew on time.
Patrick deserves a special mention as this was his first orienteering event, aimed at Years 5 and 6.  A wild card you might say - one which paid off as he got two clear rounds  - one of which was a particularly impressive time. Well done Patrick - if you can do that at your first event   - you have an exciting future ahead of you in orienteering!
Hattie, Eleanor, Ross, Imogen, Bryn and Harvey also had fantastiic runs with mostly clear rounds between them. The combined success of all 12 children contributed to our overall 1st place.
Herdie is safely back on his shelf in Mrs Louden's class and we have our seats booked on the coach to Carlisle on 1st July.  A massive achievement  - well done Team! It was meant to be.

Results on http://www.lakeland-orienteering.org.uk/

We nearly did it!

Burlington mixed netball team were so close to qualifying for the County level finals on Friday.
Playing against the 6 best mixed teams in Furness, we made it to the final play off after winning our matches against Holy Family and Yarlside.
The play off was againsy Dane Ghyll and with only 5 minutes to go we were winning 4-2.  Everyone thought it was in the bag but...
3 goals later and the final whistle gave the final score 5:4 to Dane Ghyll.  Shocked? Frustrated? Disappointed? Yes -  that is what sport can do to us but the team held their emotions together and stayed strong.  On reflection, they can take pride in being the second best mixed team in Furness. They played virtually non-stop for 80 minutes and it was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.
Louise Thornton (Dowdales sports coordinator) commented on the high standard of netball being played.
Well done team - you were amazing!
That's all the big netball events out of the way now. We can look forward to some fun training sessions and hopefully one or two friendly matches for the rest of this term.

Netball Champions!

Well done to our Netball A Team who won the Barrow and District Netball Tournament today! We had an early start - being at Chetwynde at 8.30am on a Saturday didn't go down well with everyone, but it was well worth the effort!  There were 16 teams in the tournament and Burlington were the smallest school there. We played 6 matches and won every match. Goal score for the whole tournament from Burlington was 30 whilst we only conceded 7.  The team had a few nervous starts but reliably found their form and confidence blossomed. Lots of comments were made about the quality of their game and I was immensely proud of my girls. They have trained every week and even in some holidays over the last 2 years. It is fitting that they should achieve such a memorable result in their last term at Burlington. Congratulations to Alice, Abbie, Carrie, Imogen, Hattie, Charlotte and Merryn!
Team photo with shield and medals to follow!

Key stage one cricket

10 key stage one children enjoyed a morning at Furness College on Friday, learning skills for cricket with the regional cricket development coach. Hopefully they will put their skills to good use in future cricket events at Burlington! Well done everyone.

Orienteering team bring Herdie home!

Our little friend Herdie has earned another half term on Mrs Louden's display thanks to our ace orienteering team (Eddie, Harvey, Ross, Matthew, Merryn, Hattie, Charlotte and Imogen).Well done everyone!  With over 70 entries from 7 schools we managed to get 6 top 15 placings in both courses - not bad for a small school!  Reaching the podium on the first course, in third place, was our talented Merryn and on the second course it was a clean sweep with Merryn, Imogen and Charlotte taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively! What a talented bunch we have.  Did I whoop too loudly? Sorry - I did look sheepish afterwards. I think it was the relief of not needing to get my knitting needles out!
He is safe until 19th May... baaa!

Furness finalists!

Burlington A netball team won the Dalton Cluster qualifier held at Dowdales yesterday. They won all 3 matches against Lindal and Marton, George Romney and Askam. Star shooters were Ross and Imogen, with Imogen keeping her cool and shooting under immense pressure in extra time during the final ( I could barely watch and I think I forgot to breathe for a while!).  The team got the result they deserved in the end - I knew you could do it team! Some focused practice needed now in preparation for the area final on 9th May.  We have achieved coach's goal now and so we'll work hard to play well and enjoy these last few matches before my fledglings fly the nest! Well done Hattie, Abbie, Imogen, Charlotte, Merryn, Harvey and Ross.

Football club starting soon...

Jamie Tyson our volunteer teaching assistant (qualified and crb checked) has kindly offered to start a football club for boys and girls in key stage 2. The sessions will be held after school on Wednesdays.

Start date to be confirmed. The aim is for more participation in small school league and local friendly matches.

Netball: Team B v Dane Ghyll

A strong effort against an even stronger team today. Final score 5-3 to Dane Ghyll so a close game with Burlington playing better in the last 2 quarters.  The winners commented on how tough a match it was so take pride in that girls. It was the only game the B team have lost in this league  and so I suspect that puts them into 2nd place (to be confirmed).
Next match: A team plus boys in Dowdales School Games qualifier next Friday. That should be interesting!

Netballers strike again!

Despite a full day of sport at UVHS the A team girls still had enough energy in reserve for a 12-4 win against Askam A team. You made it look so easy girls! Rotations can be quite a challenge but these girls have got every position covered: They can swap between defence and attack with ease and all are now fabulous shooters. That's the A team's  league finished with 2 wins and 2 losses. A result to be proud of as they have been playing against the best teams in the Furness area.
Team B followed up with a fabulous friendly against Askam B. Final result 10-4 to Burlington. Not bad for David v Goliath! At last the boys got a game and Ross scored some impressive goals whilst Harvey leapt everywhere in defence.  Gravel rash didn't deter Alice as she leapt to her feet and took up her marking position-well done for being so brave and determined. Carrie didn't stop to take a breath as usual and kept up the pressure in defence while scoring some great goals in attack. Megan, Eleanor and Sarah all managed to get themselves into the right place at the right time-great use of channels and determined marking. We'll done! The B team have their last match tomorrow against Dane Ghyll. If they win this one they may well have won their league (no pressure!). Good luck girls.

Netball double success!

Both teams played to their full ability today and came away with a clear win each.  Burlington B set the standard with the first game against Yarlside B and finished with a 5-1 win.  The A team found their true form at last against Yarlside A  and started with a confident couple of goals in the first quarter, finishing with a 7-2 final score win.  We were truly proud of you girls  - your technique was faultless. Well done!
Remind me to get a team photo on Thursday please!
Thursday will see the A team play Askam A at a home. Friday will be the B team v Dane Ghyll at home... a repeat performance would be nice!

Gymnasts perform to perfection

All 3 Burlington gymnastic teams competed in the Furness District finals today at Barrow Park Leisure Centre. Their routines were stunning and the coaches were so proud of them all. We could see how well they channelled their nerves and found the focus needed to perform. This was our first gym final and the standard was so high. Well done key steps 1 for your 2nd place and to key steps 2 & 3 for third place. We will look forward to your displays later in the year!

Year 1 sports event at Dowdales.

Year 1 children plus Cameron enjoyed an outing to Dowdales for a fun sports event on Friday afternoon. A report and hopefully a photo will follow soon...

Netball Crazy! Burlington A v Ulverston St Mary's

What an exciting game we had ...

The girls set off at a roaring pace, keeping the umpires on our toes from the first whistle!  Burlington dominated the first 3 quarters and refused to slow down despite my requests.  Sorry girls I lost track of who scored (it was such a blur!).  We were 2 goals up at the start of the final quarter; only 6 minutes left to play...surely the victory was ours? Sadly not as St.Mary's responded under pressure and pulled back enough goals in such a short space of time. Final score: 8-6 to U.S.M.
The girls should be seriously pleased with themselves. They took on board feedback from the previous day's defeat and put it all and more into this match. I really felt for you girls, you deserved to win this one. Any time soon...

Netball league first match...

Burlington A and B played their first matches in the Barrow and district league today against Chetwynde. The B team got off to a confident start with goals scored by Merryn, Eleanor and Alice, backed up by fantastic defence from Team Captain Carrie and Sarah. They won their match which they should be very proud of...keep it up girls!
The A team had a tougher challenge being placed in the first division as a result of being the Novice league winners last year. Merryn and Team Captain Charlotte hit the net to score and once the team settled down we could all see their game improve with some impressive defending from Hattie, Imogen and Abbie. We did lose this one but well done for keeping positive girls...I know you will get the win you deserve soon.

First Class Gymnasts!

Congratulations to our 13 gymnasts who competed at UVHS today.  All 3 teams have qualified for the Furness District final at the end of the month.  A particular congratulations to the youngest team  - Hannah Steel, Lucy Coward, Kira Jones, Caden Uren and Rose Hartley who achieved 1st place out of 5 teams!
The standard in the competitions was high and our girls did us proud. It would be great to see some boys in the teams next year. Good luck with the final girls. Ali Whillance would have been so proud of you all.

Cross Country Stars!

Thankyou to Imogen, Carrie, Merryn, Eddie, Will, Isaac, Matthew and Harvey for representing Burlington at the Dowdales cross-country event today.  Years 3 and 4 completed one and a half laps of the top field, whilst years 5 and 6 had an extra lap to put in.   A particular well done to Imogen and Carrie for coming 2nd and 4th girls respectively, and to Harvey and Isaac for coming 4th and 5th respectively.  All our runners looked strong and happy. I always feel proud of how the children group together and support each other; before, during and after the event. Well done!

Orienteering Champions!

Well done to the Key Stage 2 orienteering team. They entered their first Inter-School event of the year on Monday 10th February and came away with the prestigious "Herdie" trophy.
The results are available to see on the Lakeland orienteering website (see club links on the right of this blog) and show Burlington children achieved some high rankings.
Many thanks to Selwyn Wright and  Richard Lecky Thompson for their invaluable training this term.
Hopefully the team will work hard to retain Herdie  in the next event (near to Easter).
A particular well done to Merryn Stangroom and Imogen Barber for achieving 1st and 2nd overall on one of the courses.

Herdie - the cutest trophy we've ever won!

Our own County finalist!

Well done to Carrie Tyson on competing in the schools cross country final at Cockermouth on Saturday 18th January, finishing 23rd   - a fantastic result!
Carrie earned her place by finishing 7th in the heats at Furness Academy in November.   Apparently the final was even muddier than the heat (which was very muddy!)
Awaiting picture from mum!