THE Grange School are celebrating a big victory at a prestigious national netball tournament.

At the ‘Sisters n Sport Cup’ – the biggest national cup competition for schools – the under 15s side were crowned National Plate champions while the Year Eight team narrowly missed out.

The under 15s won 48-31 against Bedford Girls School to secure the title in the tournament hosted at Worcestershire’s Bromsgrove School while the younger team were edged out 29-26 by a strong Haileybury School team.

Nevertheless, both teams enjoyed fantastic journeys to the finals with wins over many of the north west’s leading teams, including Birkenhead School King’s Macclesfield and Withington Girls.

Jess Fowler – the school's head of netball – says the national success has offered a reminder of how much love they have for the game after a difficult year.

“During the 2019-2020 season, we made three national finals in three different age groups and we have now had the opportunity to play them all,” she said.

“Joining our successful under 16s national finalists, we can now add the under 13s team as national runners-up and the under 15s team as National Plate champions.

“The rescheduled Cup and Plate finals have been a real highlight in what has been a tough year.

“It has reminded us of how much we love netball and it has given us something to focus on and to train for.

“It has been a real privilege to see our girls back out competing amongst the best teams in the country.

“We have a great squad with huge potential going forward and this experience has been a great platform for our students as they move forward.”

The Grange School have recently launched their own netball academy, offering players a first-class curriculum in coaching, training and education enabling them to aim high in all future top honours, including the English Schools’ Tournament which the school will be competing in next year.