Sport
Sport at St Benedict's
Sport at St Benedict’s is embedded in the fabric of the school. The school boasts a long-standing and highly regarded sporting history and tradition with a number of team and individual English and British national title successes, as well as having seen many students progress to elite-level sport after leaving education.
St Benedict’s promotes the highest sporting aspirations and is also committed to physical fitness and sport for all. A wholesome approach to sport is encouraged in all our students from a very young age. Through our sports programme, our students learn the value of teamwork, leadership, perseverance, commitment, humility, respect, and discipline. Students are encouraged to develop the confidence that comes from participating and enjoying success by showing enthusiasm for games and competitive sport, and learning to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.
THREE STRANDS OF ST BENEDICT'S SPORTS PROGRAMME
Core PE – Timetabled single physical education delivered to all students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9. The Core PE syllabus is centred on developing student’ physical literacy and knowledge related to healthy lifestyles. It also encourages students to investigate technical and tactical aspects of some broad topics, such as Invasion Games, Gymnastics, Net Games and Striking and Fielding. Students are given the opportunity to understand the theory of sport, in their study of, physical, social and emotional health and the human anatomy.
Co-Curricular Sports – The aim of this programme is to offer a broad base of sports at a recreational level. The intention is to introduce St Benedict’s School students to 30-minute sessions at lunch time or longer before and after school so that they may experience new sports in the hope that they may pursue these outside of school time and continue playing into their adult life. In addition, sessions such as strength and conditioning are delivered to support the student development in their Main Sports played in the Games programme. Intra-school house matches are played in many of these sports as part of the house system.
Games – A programme of Main and Minor Sports played across the academic year with regular inter-school Saturday, and sometimes mid-week, fixtures against opponents from the London and South East area. St Benedict’s regularly competes in local, County, regional and National competitions in the relevant sport across various age grades. At St Benedict’s we aim to perform at the very highest level in our ‘Main Sports’ while also offering the opportunity to all our students to participate in a wider range of sports, whether they are gifted or not. We expect all our students, regardless of their ability, to fully participate in at least one of our ‘Main Sports’ in two of the three terms each academic year.
An overview of the Senior School Sports (Games and Co-curricular) Programme for 2025-26 can be seen in the table below:
St Benedict’s Main Sports
In recent years, St Benedict’s has been very successful on a regional and national level in both boys and girls ‘Main Sports.’
For boys and with a very strong pedigree and national reputation in rugby, the school regularly wins Middlesex County Cups and makes the latter stages of National competitions. Most recently the 1st XV finished third in the Daily Mail Trophy (National merit table) in 2022 and is widely regarded as one of the top 20 rugby playing schools in England. The school also has a strong tradition in rugby sevens where it has won a number of National Schools’ Sevens titles. Large numbers of students are selected as part of the RFU Elite Player Development Pathway with Harlequins and Saracens Academies, as well as the Ealing Trailfinders Elite Pathway where St Benedict’s is a Partner School. The school regularly boasts a number of boys who compete for their academies in the RFU Premiership Under 18 Academy League and has produced a long list of schoolboy and adult international representative rugby players.
In fencing, the school has produced a number of senior international GB athletes including multi-Paralympic and word medalists. In recent years fencers have won national school and club titles including the Public School Fencing Championships, British School Team Championships and British Youth Championships. A number of current students represent GB at U15 and U17 age groups.
Football has been recently added to the School’s sports programme in the Lent term and is developing a competitive and busy fixture list. A growing number of students are involved in English Football League club pathways and in 2025 the 12A won the Shropshire JCA Football Cup in their first year participating.
For girls, St Benedict's is fast building a strong reputation in hockey with London County and Regional tournament successes and regular appearances in the National T3 Finals. The school's 1st XI finished in fifth position in the National hockey finals in 2024 and a number of students feature in England Hockey elite player development pathways. Students regularly feature in County representative teams.
In netball, St Benedict’s won the Under 15 Sisters In Sport National Bowl at Loughborough University in March 2025 and there have been a number of local and regional tournament successes across all age grades from Under 12 through to Seniors. The school regularly competes in the in Middlesex County, the National School Sports Magazine and Independent Schools Cups. A number of our students are involved in Middlesex and Berkshire County representative teams, as well as Netball Super League elite player development group pathways with London Pulse and London Mavericks where St Benedict’s is a Gold School Partner. Some students have progressed to participate in England and Ireland Schools’ National team pathways.
Summer sport for boys and girls has also seen strong recent performances and successes in district, County and national competitions in the school’s other ‘Main Sports.’
Notably, cricket has seen St Benedict’s become a regular feature in the latter stages of the Middlesex County Cup and were Boys Under 13 and Under 19 champions in 2025. There is also a fast-growing number of students involved at District and County representative levels. Girl’s cricket is growing and increasingly successful alongside a strong programme for boys. St Benedict’s was named as one of the ‘Top 100’ cricketing schools in The Cricketer’s Schools Guide 2026.
Athletics has seen great success with strong performances from boys and girls in regular meets on weekdays and Saturdays throughout the Trinity term. St Benedict’s students regularly contribute to Borough representative teams who compete at the Middlesex County Track & Field Championships. A number of students have progressed to represent Middlesex County at the English Schools’ Athletics Championships where one student has been selected for the England U17 Athletics Team. St Benedict’s participates in the Ealing Schools’ Cross-Country and regularly wins individual year group and overall boys’ and girls’ categories. Significant numbers of the school’s students go on to be selected to represent Ealing Borough and Middlesex County in the English Cross-Country Schools Cup.
Recent and planned sports tours include:
- Cricket tour to Sri Lanka at Under 12 and Under 13 (2022, 2024, 2026) and a planned Senior tour to Dubai in 2027.
- Fencing Tours to Paris in 2023, as well as planned trips to Venice 2026 and South Korea in 2029.
- Football Tours to St. George’s Park for Senior preseason, Junior tours within the UK & will be participating in the 2025 Gothia Cup.
- Hockey Senior tours to Malaysia in 2017 and a planned trip in 2026.
- Netball Junior tours within the UK every year.
- Rugby tours to South Africa at Under 15, Under 16 and Senior levels in 2022 and 2025.
Recent old priorians
Emma Thacker (England Roses Netball)
Tyler Offiah (Bath Rugby and England Under 20)
Josh Addams (Championship Rugby with Richmond Rugby and Nigeria Sevens)
Arthur Ellis (Newport Gwent Dragons and Ealing Trailfinders)
Ehize Ehizode-Edevbalo (Championship Rugby with Ealing Trailfinders, London Scottish and Doncaster Knights)
James Stephenson (England Rugby Sevens)
Juliano Fiori (Brazil Rugby Rio Olympic Sevens)
Hugo Ellis (London Wasps and England Under 20)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps, Gloucester and England Rugby)
Jonah Holmes (London Wasps, London Welsh, Yorkshire Carnegie, Leictester Tigers and Wales Rugby)
Dimitri Coutya (GB Paralympian Fencing)
Ned Eckersley (Durham County Cricket Club)
Dominic Inglot (GB Davis Cup Tennis)
George Loffhagen (Great Britain and current World ranked tennis professional)
Alberto Mascioli (GB Fencing and national champion)
Mika Stojsavljevic (England & Great Britain Tennis, current World ranked tennis professional, US Open Junior Champion and former Junior Wimbledon Bronze Medallist)
St Benedict’s Minor Sports
As a supplement to the ‘Main Sports’ on the programme, St Benedict’s also delivers the following Minor Sports as part of the Games Programme. These sports will have limited numbers selected on a first come, first serve basis or criteria-based application with an additional charge:
- Fencing (Michaelmas and Lent terms only for Year 7 to Upper Sixth Girls)
- Golf (Trinity term only for Upper Fifth to Upper Sixth Form Boys & Girls. Please note that there is an extra charge for this sport and students must meet set criteria following an application process.)
- Circuit Training and Fitness (Michaelmas and Lent terms only for Sixth Form Boys & Girls)
- Outdoor Fitness (Trinity term only for Sixth Form Boys & Girls)
- Swimming (Michaelmas and Lent terms only for Sixth Form Boys & Girls)
- Tennis (Trinity term only for Year 7 to Year 11 Form Boys & Girls. Please note that tennis at Sixth Form will become a minor sport and be open to boys from September 2026.)
Strength & Conditioning
The St Benedict’s Strength & Conditioning (S&C) team is committed to providing high performance coaching and evidence-based training programmes with objectives to improve the health, performance, and all-around development of our student athletes.
We follow the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model to mould our students into strong, healthy, and robust young athletes.
Throughout the senior school, ninety percent of all students take part in strength and conditioning sessions as part of the co-curricular offer or via their physical education lessons.
Our vision for the students in the programme is a 3-pronged approach.
Strength & Conditioning Approach
1. The Junior Academy – made up of our U12 Boys and Girls
In the Junior Academy we aim to teach the students body weight control and movement patterns as well as the fundamental importance behind Strength and Conditioning. In this phase we highlight learning to train as a key skill for all our students to develop. This will allow our students to learn movements that are fundamental to their sport, as well as key skills such as mental, cognitive, and emotional development. These skills will support them as they progress through puberty and into maturity, helping them understand how to develop physically outside of set sessions and appreciate the importance of nutrition and recovery for a growing child.
2: The academy our U13-U15 Sports players (Boys and Girls)In the academy we look to teach the students how to lift weights safely and effectively. These sessions also include movement skills training, healthy eating, and sports nutrition practices as well as the latest recovery strategies to support the students in this essential part of their physical development. Outside of the gym we work with all the students on games afternoons utilizing our evidence and experience driven warm up, conditioning and recovery practices so that every student’s physical development is supported.
Within the LTAD model we progress towards training to train. As they athletes enter the programme in U13’s they are still learning their way around movements and an introduction to weight training, but as they become more experienced in the programme, we can start increasing the emphasis on training. In this phase there is a development in Sport-specific skills as well as opportunity for Major fitness development in their aerobic capacity, speed, and strength. We will also often see the onset of the growth spurt, peak height velocity (PHV) (the fastest rate of growth after growth decelerates) and the onset of menarche as the biological markers.
We can then look to build the students both physically and mentally throughout this period. During this phase we try to take frequent musculoskeletal evaluations such as height, Power output, speed, and aerobic development as they grow and enter puberty.
3. Senior performance U16-U18 sports players (Boys and Girls)
As the students move into our senior teams, the programme develops further. The Senior Performance programme looks to develop on the movement skills they have been taught throughout the other 2 phases assessment that not only tracks their growth but now also their strength and places emphasis on the ability to build muscle and strength as well as maintain a healthy and robust body, ready for the stresses and strains of sport. Throughout this programme there is regular physical development and power output.
This phase of development is known as training to compete. During this phase we become more specific in their physical development and aim to create programmes to increase their strength and conditioning relative to both their sport as well as possible weaknesses. We have regular meetings and talk about nutrition as a student-athlete and the importance of training alongside their sport to stay mentally and physically fit.
At this stage we see more specialisation in their training both on and off their area of play so it is important that we look to develop all these athletes to be strong in the movements they will be performing as well as develop the capacity to play the sports at the higher level. Training in this phase should model the intensity and actions of playing.
S&C in PE
In our Core PE Lessons for Year 7, Year 8 & Year 9 we induct every child into the gym.
Through a carefully thought out and practiced curriculum, every child is taught how to warm up, measure Heart rate and fatigue and use the equipment safely. This starts in Year 7. Every student should be given the opportunity to learn how to use the area and how to do this safely and effectively.
In Year 8 we repeat the same subjects and advance their knowledge of Gym use. We teach them how to use the bars safely and points for development within technique.
In year 9 we progress their knowledge further by helping them create training programmes so they can work out within the lesson, but also recap on prior knowledge behind Strength, Fitness, and personal development.
We want every student to feel safe in the environment and ensure that proper movement and technique is at the forefront of our coaching. This allows for students to feel comfortable using the Gym and build a positive relationship with lifting weights and developing strength and robustness.
High Performance Programme
Within the school we have several students who are on a sports scholarship, as well as a number who throughout the maturation and skill development have progressed into fine young athletes who we would like to push on to the next stage. They form our High-Performance programme.
Within this the students will get mentoring from older students and staff, 1:1 coaching, meetings, and lectures. They are also given further access to the Performance Centre and time with our Strength and Conditioning coaches.
As the students go on to perform at higher levels it is important that they are physically able to keep up with the speed and tenacity of their sport. They are also asked to compete for school and club/ academy/ nationally which means higher training loads coupled with the higher intensities which their bodies must be able to handle.
Injury & Rehabilitation Clinic
In conjunction with our medical provider, Meliora Medical, St Benedict’s operates an injury and rehabilitation clinic twice per week during the Michaelmas and Lent terms for those students who are medically unable to participate in sport due to short term injury. The injury and rehabilitation clinic operates in the Medical Room and Fitness Suite providing dedicated physiotherapy services, concussion cover and a fully qualified strength and conditioning (S&C) coach overseen by the Head of Athletic Development/S&C.