Wednesday this week saw Northgate pupils take to the water to represent their houses in the annual swimming gala at Dereham Leisure Centre. Nearly a hundred pupils donned their swim gear to compete for points for their respective houses. Pupils showed fantastic levels of resilience and competitive spirit giving their all to do their best for their houses and there was a great atmosphere around the pool with 6 new records set on the day.
After the first few events it was Holmes in first place followed by Attenborough, Rowling and Hawking. During this session two records were broken; Megan Staples (Attenborough) broke the record for the Year 7/8 girls 25m backstroke in a time of 18.24s and Callum Stedman (Holmes) from Year 10 set a new record in the 25m breaststroke in a time 16.73s
After the medley relay’s the standings changed with Attenborough now in first followed by Holmes, Hawking and then Rowling dropping to 4th. In this session more records went with Ruby Dagless breaking her own previous record of 16.17s in the 25m butterfly with a new time of 15.36s.
In the final session another three records were broken with Ruby Dagless (Rowling) in Year 8 beating the Year 8 girls 50m breaststroke record in a time 39.22s beating the old record set by former pupil Marcella Aris by over 3 seconds. Sam Rose (Hawking) also broke two records setting a new Year 10 boys record in the 50m backstroke in a time of 30.00s and beating the Y9/10 boys 50m freestyle record in a new time of 27.22s.

Record Breakers – Megan (left), Ruby (right).

Record Breakers – Sam (left), Callum (right).
A huge well done to all the competitors for stepping up to represent their houses and a particular big congratulations to the four pupils who broke records during the event.
Now…… the bit you have all been waiting for….the final standings:
1st – Attenborough (166 points)
2nd – Holmes (143)
3rd – Hawking (117 points)
4th – Rowling (97 points)