St Bonaventure’s School celebrated a landmark achievement as its Year 11 football team reached the National Elite Cup U16 Final for the first time in the school’s history. 

The competition is the top football competition for schools across the country and is well known for showcasing young talents, many of whom go on to play professional football in the UK and abroad. St Bonaventure’s has stormed to the final winning all their matches scoring an impressive 25 goals along the way. 

• St Bons 3-0 Riverside Academy (Essex)
• Royal Docks (Newham) 3-10 St Bons
• Framingham Earl School (Norwich) 1-4 St Bons
• St Bons 5-2 Herne Bay School (Canterbury)
• St Bons 3-0 Eggbuckland Community College (Plymouth)

Mr Firth, the team’s coach and Curriculum Leader of PE, commented on this achievement: “I am incredibly proud of the boys for their efforts in the game. We were the better team on the day and thoroughly deserved our victory. The team upped their game and several boys put in their best performance of the year. I would also like to say a special thank you to all the staff and adults who helped. It was amazing to have so many students there to cheer the boys on, but that wouldn’t have happened without other staff helping out. Let’s hope we can go one step further and win the cup.”

The team is now awaiting the result of the other semi-final, which will determine whether they face Thomas Telford School (Shropshire) or St Bede’s (Newcastle) in the final which is set to take place in May at the stadium of Championship side Stoke City FC. This Year 11 team are also in the Newham Cup final, and the London Cup final after beating St Thomas Apostle College.