St Peter's aces top of the class

The record comes weeks after the PE department was named among the top one per cent of state schools in the country.

St Edmund Arrowsmith’s Year 10s are also through – in a repeat of last year’s final at Year 9s level, which the Ashton school won.

There is another repeat at year 11s, too, when St Helens borough school Haydock will be looking to get one over St Peter’s this year after losing in golden-point extra time last year.

The finals take place this Saturday, January 14, at the Select Security Stadium, home of Super League club Widnes Vikings.

Tickets cost £3 for adults and £1.50 for concessions and gates open from 10.30am. Wigan Warriors first-teamer Kyle Shelford is proud of his former school’s achievement.

He said: “It is awesome. I follow them on Twitter and it is great when I see that all years are doing well for themselves.

“I am happy to say that I have come from the school.”

Orrell St Peter’s Year 7s start the action at 11am when they will take on Warrington’s Beamont Collegiate Academy, with the Year 8 Final between St Peter’s and Preston’s Cardinal Newman or Widnes’ St Peter & Paul kicking-off at 12.10pm. Halton-based school Wade Deacon will face St Peter’s in the Year 9 Final at 1:30pm and the Year 10 clash between St Edmund Arrowsmith and St Peter’s will start at 14:50pm.

The Year 11 final has a 4.20pm kick-off.

Neil Ashton, assistant head at St Peter’s, said: “We have had another extremely successful year to date, building on the successes of last year.

“That included reaching four Wigan and Leigh Finals, four North West Counties Finals and three National Finals.

“We were the only school to have all five boys teams qualify for the National stages of the Champion Schools.

“A special mention must go to last year’s Year 11 rugby team, who were crowned National Champions, after a thrilling victory over Castleford Academy. This result helped them to be named the Wigan ‘Believe’ Sports Award Team of the Year.

Whilst as a school, we are very proud our achievements, we are acutely aware that none of our successes would have been possible without the help and support of lots of people. We have a hugely committed team of staff, and we owe a special thank you to Sean McHugh, who volunteers his time to support the school.

“We owe thanks to many people, including staff, volunteers, amateur clubs and parents and grandparents who also give up their time to ensure the success of the teams.

“We are also really fortunate to work with such 
committed and talented players.”