Red Oak Primary School in Lowestoft is celebrating an historic win for their Year 5 and 6 school hockey team, which has just won the school’s 200th first place trophy, having won the North Suffolk Sports Partnership Quickstiks tournament.

Red Oak has won 200 trophies within a ten-year period. To celebrate this monumental achievement, the school held a special whole school assembly, joined by former Red Oak students and former captains of winning teams.

Attendees included Jude Benson-Smith, captain of the first ever trophy-winning team in 2014, and Keagan Hoque and Riley Eastell, joint captains of Red Oak’s 100th trophy-winning team in 2019. The former captains were greeted by current captain, Payton-Eloise Trainer, and all the captains were presented with special awards.

The school hockey team was also excited to debut Red Oak’s new special edition gold-coloured kits, which commemorate the achievement of winning 200 championships. The new kits have been generously sponsored by the Premier League.

Mr Lee, Red Oak Primary School’s PE and Sports Coordinator and Active Learning Trust’s Associate Leader of PE and Sports, has worked at the school since 2014.

Mr. Lee said: 
"I am so proud of all of the students both past and present for reaching this tremendous milestone of winning 200 trophies. Before 2014, our school had never won a trophy in the whole of its 88 year history and now we have won 200 in the space of just ten years. 
“This achievement is down to the sheer effort, determination and dedication of the students who attend the school's weekly after school sports and fitness clubs and it is also down to the amazing staff that we have at Red Oak Primary School. They dedicate their spare time to running these sports clubs and training sessions after school.
“It was so lovely to see our former captains from our first ever trophy-winning team and our 100th trophy winning team return to Red Oak to help us to celebrate our 200th trophy winning team. We have a photo of all these captains together and we will be displaying it with a plaque next to our trophy cabinet.”

Mr. Jack Child, PE Instructor at Red Oak, said:
"I'm proud to be a member of an amazing team and school. I have been at Red Oak now for 8 years and sport is my passion. Working at a school where sport is a passion of so many is a privilege. The engagement of the children and their resilience shows they have a good attitude towards sport and the school."

Heather Madsen, Headteacher at Red Oak Primary School, said:
“Our whole school is so proud of this achievement. I want to say a huge thank you to the many staff who give their time so freely to support sports tournaments, including at weekends and after school.” 

Red Oak has much to celebrate outside of sports too, with the school having received many quality marks including the Inclusion Quality Mark and the Race Charter Mark, and subject quality marks including those for RE, Science, History, Geography and Science.
The school was also delighted to have been shortlisted as a finalist in the “School of the Year” category at the prestigious National School Awards recently. Staff from the school and trust attended the awards ceremony at the House of Lords earlier this month.