Sheffield Federation for School Sport’s 121st annual presentation

Guests included the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Cllr Talib Hussain as the association enjoyed its highlight of the year.

Presentations and awards recognised both achievement and commitment of school pupils and those who worked with them during the 2014-15 school year.

Arguably, the highest achieving winners came in the inclusive sports category: Alexander Thompson, Niall Guite and Lesley Morgan, who jointly won the Within Reach Award, are already Olympic medallists.

In terms of school awards the David Aizlewood Memorial Trophy went, for a second consecutive year, to Nether Green Junior School, for winning the Primary Schools Athletics Championships.

Westways Primary School won the Primary Schools Cross Country Shield, and Brunswick Primary School won the coveted Primary Schools Sports Award for the range of sporting opportunities provided for their pupils.

Meadowhead School were resounding winners of the John Moss Trophy, the secondary equivalent of the Primary Schools Sports Award. The school has made a significant contribution to the continuance of inter-school competitive rugby union in Sheffield schools, as well as having an overall commitment to the importance of sport.

Special awards went to Niamh Morton (King Edward VII School), for her achievements in cycle speedway, Pippa Dakin (Sheffield High School), who is now an orienteeering international and Dan Whitaker (Tapton School) for trampolining successes.

Tapton School’s Key Stage 3 Badminton team, who became national schools champions in 2014-15 were also recipients of a special award.

Bronte Jones (Westfield School) and Alana Zeidler (Silverdale School) shared the Harold Whitham Memorial Trophy for their podium places at the English Schools Athletics Association Championships in discus and race walking respectively.

Haris Hussain (Ecclesfield School) was awarded the Frank Scholfield Memorial Trophy for the best performance at the secondary school cricket finals and Adam Pocock (Westfield School) took away the Pauline Fidler Memorial Trophy for his performances representing Sheffield Schools football teams over many years.

Jayden Saberton (Westfield School), a talented track athlete, was winner of the Federation Endeavour Award.

Garfield Walters, who encourages so many pupils into sport at Pye Bank Primary School, was a worthy winner of volunteer of the year, and the only one to be introduced in verse!

The quality of award winners was highlighted by one winner who could not receive her awards in person: Lucy Horan (Newfield School), recipient of the Chairman’s Award was competing for England at an international trampolining competition in Denmark.

The highlight of the evening recognised the two individuals who have most successfully embodied the spirit of sport within the Federation.

At primary level, Mollie Birch (Ballifield Primary School) was recognised as Primary School Sports Personality of the Year.

She has achieved much success in trampolining, gymnastics and cheerleading as well as being an excellent role model for other pupils. Sadly, Mollie was too ill to pick up her award in person.

The Alderman Sewell Award went to a secondary pupil, and no one present could doubt that Joseph Newman-Billington (Meadowhead School) deserved this. The range of his involvement and commitment to school and sport is staggering.

“The nominations this year were of an unbelievably high standard and underline the strength of school sport in Sheffield, ” said Federation chair, Karen Leaver.

“Without the Federation, it is hard to see how such a wealth of competitive sporting opportunity would exist in the city.”