Boys at New College School enjoy a range of options in sport. They have plenty of opportunities to represent the School in a team, develop their sporting skills, and take up a new interest in the lively programme of lunchtime and after-school activities.
As an integral part of the curriculum, there is a balanced scheme of Physical Education that teaches skills, develops overall fitness, and complements the Games programme. We aim to help boys to understand the benefits and enjoyment of regular exercise and feel confident in team and individual sport. The School's sporting life is supported by first-class playing fields nearby, which we share with New College. The playing fields are used for rugby, hockey, football, cricket or athletics according to the season. Tennis courts are also available. We also use astroturf facilities of nearby clubs for hockey.
Pre-Prep boys play football, rounders, cricket, and engage in a variety of activities covering fitness, gym and athletics. At this stage, the primary emphasis is on fun, team work, and confidence-building. Every boy participates in our annual sports day. Boys from Year 3 to Year 8 have two two-hour sessions of sport per week. Michaelmas Term is spent developing football and rugby skills with matches being played against local schools in all age groups. We have also had external coaching sessions from Oxford United for football and from the England U16 coach for our senior rugby side.
Traditionally, Hilary has been our hockey term and this is where we have enjoyed some of our greatest successes in recent years. Again, all boys from Years 3 to 8 play hockey; all senior matches and training sessions are played on astroturf pitches. Trinity sees us on the cricket pitch. Boys are given the opportunity to hone their skills prior to the season with indoor coaching in our sports hall, but when the summer finally arrives we have the use of the New College professional nets and our bowling machine to ensure our batsmen are ready.
We also have coaching in athletics and tennis with tennis fixture with other schools a part of the regular calendar. Our sports hall allows us to accommodate the boys' other sporting interests, with basketball, gymnastics, badminton and table tennis being played regularly. As well as our regular fixtures with other schools, all boys are able to play in our twice-termly house matches. These are run in rugby, football, hockey, cross-country, cricket and athletics. Our finale is a whole school sports day at the University of Oxford's famous Roger Bannister Track at Iffley Road in the last week of Trinity.