Sport in the Junior School is taught from Reception through to Year 6 by specialist PE teachers providing an excellent platform with which to build on in Senior School. With over 70 girls attending after-school netball practice, Years 3-6 sport is an important part of Junior School life.

In the autumn and spring terms, the subjects taught include badminton, cross-country, dance, football, gymnastics, hockey, netball, swimming tennis and volleyball. In the summer term, the girls participate in athletics, rounders, swimming and tennis.

Fixtures are played for those in Year 3 through to Year 6 against local state and preparatory schools. We believe it is important to provide the pupils with the experience of competing in matches.

The extra-curricular sporting opportunities available to the girls are varied and are taught by the department as well as external coaches. Our junior pupils are entered into a range of IAPS competitions and have already proved successful in reaching the national finals in netball and swimming. This has been a fantastic development and has given the girls greater opportunities to compete against other schools nationally.

We encourage as many as possible to attend clubs to contribute to a healthy lifestyle. For those who wish to develop sports further, we believe it is also important to give pupils the resources, skills and guide them to be the very best they can be. Many of our girls attend clubs to get fit and have fun and some go on to compete at the very highest level.

Swimming Pathway

Talbot Heath School Swimming Pathway
This is a before and after school swimming group for
Talbot Heath pupils that have reached the criteria listed
• 25m Front crawl with breathing technique
• 25m Back crawl
• 10m Breaststroke kick showing correct technique
• 10m Butterfly kick showing correct technique
• Can perform a forward roll
• Be confident in deep water
• Shower, changing, brushing hair independently from parent/adult supervision and preparation for the school day.

The Pathway will provide a progressive route to develop competitive and fitness swimming.  Talbot Heath have enjoyed seeing swimmers, triathletes, lifesavers, and biathletes achieve county, regional, national and international success in recent years.

Pathway pupils may earn selection for School teams that compete in Regional and National IAPS (Independent Association of Preparatory Schools), ISA (Independent Schools Association), ESSA (English Schools Swimming Association) and local school galas.

The Talbot Heath School Pathway is directed and coached by British Swimming and Poole Swimming Club Head Coach Barry Alldrick and his team of coaches.  We are partnered with Poole Swimming Club, where many pupils join to compete more widely with a club from novice to International level (outside of school competitions).
 
The Pathway starts for pupils in Year 3 all the way through to Year 13, from Year 7 this is branded as a Swimming Academy. Pupils in Year 2 can apply to join the pathway in the Summer Term but this must be approved by Mrs Pugh.
 
 
Learn to Swim
We run swimming lessons from Reception as part of our curriculum, with no fee.
 
For pupils that are in Reception/Year 1, or working towards the entrance criteria for the Bronze squad of the Swimming Academy, we also have third party Learn to Swim School partners who operate from Talbot Heath out of school hours, they will expertly develop pupils to the Talbot Heath Swimming Pathway standard.  You may contact them directly.
 
• Individuality Swimming
  www.individualityswimmingandfitness.co.uk
 
• Katy’s Swim School
  07936 371807, Facebook @katysswimschool
 
For extra curricular prices and timetables, please contact swimming@talbotheath.org
 
 
 

For more information on our Swimming Academy click here, comprehensive guide here.

Tennis Lessons

In addition to the tennis skills we teach in the PE Curriculum from Pre-Prep, we enlist the specialist help of coaches from The West Hants Club.

These sessions are designed to help players learn ‘The Basics’ and become confident in their knowledge of the game. Our warm ups focus on movement skills and coordination linking into the theme for the week’s lesson.
At the end of each term we aim for players to have developed ready positions, split steps, and the skills to be able to hit on balance and recover effectively.

Players will learn both first and second serves, and how to use them within points.

For those who regularly compete/play within West Hants Club Plus Programme we aim to develop their skills in controlling the speed, height & depth of the ball, whilst creating a competitive environment for them.

Reception, Year 1 & 2

Monday 8am-8.40am. Coaches – Maciej and Tim. £45 per term.

Year 3-6

Tuesday 8am-8.40am. Coaches – Maciej & Catherine. £45 per term.

These are booked one term in advance via the Junior School office.

Private one to one lessons

Pupils who are showing high potential as tennis players are selected by West Hants to have individual lessons, if after this extra coaching, they meet the standard they will be invited to apply for the Tennis Academy programme for Y7.

Extra curricular lessons are booked via our Junior School office. For more information on our Tennis Academy, click here