What a superstar! Yesterday was the big day — the West Yorkshire Finals at Temple Newsam — and what an incredible event it was. Schools travelled in from Bradford, Leeds, Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield, with over 500 children competing on the day. The sun was shining, the music was blasting, and the whole event was superbly organised — a fantastic atmosphere from start to finish! Ben ran his socks off against some of the very best runners in the region, finishing an impressive 54th out of 149 competitors. We are incredibly proud of the determination and resilience he showed while representing ACE — an outstanding achievement all round!
On Wednesday 5th February, Year 5 student Ben represented ACE at the Leeds Cross Country Finals held at Temple Newsam. Ben qualified for the finals after an impressive performance in the North East Leeds Cross Country rounds, where he placed 7th out of 100 competitors in the Year 6 Boys’ race, completing a demanding 1,900m course.
Wednesday’s final presented an even greater challenge, with Ben competing against the strongest runners from across Leeds. Rising to the occasion, he delivered another outstanding performance, finishing 19th out of 100 runners. This result places Ben in contention for qualification to the West Yorkshire Finals, and we are currently awaiting confirmation.
This is a remarkable achievement, and we are incredibly proud of Ben for representing ACE with such determination and excellence.
We attended a cross-country event run by the Leeds Well Schools Partnership on Friday at Roundhay School. We took four children from Years 4, 5, and 6, and each of them ran amazingly—Years 3 and 4 completed a challenging 900m course, while Years 5 and 6 tackled an impressive 1800m distance, both of which are an extremely long way. With over 100 children competing in every race, we are incredibly proud of all our ACE students for their determination and effort.
A special shoutout goes to Ben in Year 6, who qualified through to the next round, taking place in February 2026, by finishing 7th out of 100. This is an outstanding achievement, made even more remarkable by the fact that Ben has now qualified for the third consecutive year.
Arriving at the tournament our aims were to enjoy the day, work together and bond as a team. Objectives which we achieved through hard work and determination.
From a performance perspective we played lightning fast football aiming to work the ball forwards at all opportunities and create chances regardless of the opponent. This was evident throughout the tournament as we always created more opportunities than the other teams.
A personal favourite part of the day was seeing the whole team celebrate together after coming back from two goals down to draw and clinch third place. A thoroughly enjoyable day the players can be proud of both for their football and attitude.
Year 5 student Matthew has recently come back from attending the Karate World Championships in Germany.
Matthew’s results were amazing! He came 6th in Traditional Kata and 7th in Hardstyle Kata and was unfortunate to be knocked out in the 1/4 finals of his Kumite. All were competed at U12 age group which is above his age.
Matthews dad told us “Matthew had an excellent competition and was noted by many for his outstanding sportsmanship especially with his team mates who had been on the mat. He was the first person to congratulate them or put an arm round them, should they have not got the result. Many parents also noticed Matthew’s presence around the arena and commented how mature beyond his years he was conducting himself”.
We are super proud of his achievements and we know he is already back in training for his next comp.
We’ve been working with the fantastic team at Starfish Swim School, taking part in an exciting week of swimming lessons tailored to a wide range of abilities. Some of our children were stepping into a swimming pool for the very first time, while others have been having regular lessons for years. Despite the different starting points, every single child has made incredible progress and we couldn’t be prouder!
From nervous first steps into the water to confident strokes across the pool, it’s been a joy to watch the children’s confidence grow day by day. The instructors from Starfish have created a fun, supportive environment where all our children felt safe to challenge themselves, try new skills, and most importantly, learn to love the water.
Swimming is such an important life skill, not just for health and fitness, but for safety too. Instilling water confidence at this age can have a lifelong impact, and it’s been wonderful to see how engaged and enthusiastic the children have been.
With just one more day left of our swimming week, we’re already hearing children talk about wanting to continue swimming outside of school. Many have been asking their grown-ups about joining local swimming lessons or heading to the pool at weekends — a sign that this experience is having a lasting impact.
A huge well done to all of 3VL for showing such bravery, determination, and positivity in the pool this week. And thank you to Starfish Swim School for their expertise, patience, and encouragement.
We can’t wait to see what our final day brings — but one thing’s for sure: 3VL are swimming stars! 🌟
Holt Park | Year 5 & 6 | A Fantastic Start to the School Year
What better way to kick off the new school year than with a wave of excitement at the ACE Swimming Gala! Held at the brilliant Holt Park Leisure Centre, this year’s event saw our talented Year 5 and 6 pupils diving into action and showing off their skills in a variety of swimming races.
From freestyle sprints to relay races, the children gave it their all, cheering each other on from poolside and celebrating every splash and stroke with smiles, laughter, and high-fives. The atmosphere was buzzing with fun, determination, and pure enjoyment.
It wasn’t just about winning (although there were some impressively fast swimmers!). It was about having fun, trying something new, and showing great sportsmanship, qualities that every participant displayed throughout the morning.
A special shoutout goes to Fatima, who showed true courage and resilience. Despite feeling tired and nervous, she stepped up for her team and competed in the challenging 100m race. She pushed through, completed it, and walked away with a huge sense of accomplishment. What an inspiring moment—it’s exactly what the ACE spirit is all about!
A huge well done to everyone who took part—you made us all proud! And a big thank you to Mrs Fox, Mrs Stott, Miss Whiteley and Mrs Curtis who helped run the event so smoothly. What an incredible way to start the year!
Here’s to many more opportunities to shine, compete, and enjoy being active together. Go Team ACE! 🌟
Our incredible football season came to an end last Thursday.
This season had seen us become one of the top 4 primary schools in the whole of Leeds. We visited Clapgate Primary school in search of a place in the Champions of Champions Trophy Final.
Clapgate are well known to be the best team in Leeds and boast players from all different football academies so this would be a big test for ACE.
The wind played a big part in the opening stages of the game and Clapgate looked to take full advantage of playing with the wind. If it wasn’t for a handful of amazing saves from Oscar, they could have been out of sight. ACE battled hard but found themselves 2-0 down at half time through 2 great goals. The second half didn’t start much better with Clapgate going 3-0 up.
Just like all season long, ACE never gave up. They showed incredible resilience and team work to get back into the game. Ben scoring a brilliant free kick before Jeremiah made it 3-2 with a great team goal. Despite their best efforts, time run out and ACE narrowly missed out on the final. Huge shout to Oscar who showed everybody just how incredible of a goalkeeper he is.
I am so proud of the team this year. They have been a pleasure to coach and it has been a hugely successful season full of team and individual accolades. A huge thanks also to the parents who have watched and supported every week!
ACE once again hosted the ACE Cup. This is now a legacy event from the LEEDS23 celebrations.
We were joined by teams from Bradford Park Avenue Academy , Brighouse Town and PSC coaching academy who were from Dewsbury.
The sprits and enthusiasm of all the team were solid throughout, despite some poor weather during the day. We had a wonderful visit from the Lord Mayor of Leeds too.
The girls teams worked hard and received silver and bronze medals. With Brighouse taking the trophy. Special mention to Olivia and family, who were in London in the morning and came straight to the game.
The Y9s followed the same pattern with ACE picking up silver and bronze medals and BPA lifting the trophy.
The U11s tournament was a spectacular effort with the ACE team going head to head with PSC. Each game had been even to both team and the final was the same. The worst had to happen and we were down to a penalty shoot out.
This has to have been the most exciting and terrifying shoot out we have ever seen. There were amazing saves by Oscar, but then the PSC goalkeeper was doing the same. There were missed attempts by both teams. We reached a point that both the U11 teams had all taken penalties ,and we had to start again. We were on penalty number ten when ACE missed the target and PSC were the winning squad. A massive effort!
Huge thanks to Mr Poole and Mr Dobson who were brilliant referees, to all the parents who attended and supported their children, to staff who gave up their time.
On Wednesday, June 18th the ACE Girls football team played in the prestigious St Bart’s Club. This tournament has been running for 25 years and is open to all schools across the city. In this years event there were 47 teams.
The girls had a great start with a 3-0 win, our second game was more challenging and we lost .
From the third game onwards the girls gained confidence again and their final game in the first stage provided a 7-0 win, which led the girls to the last 16 teams in the tournament.
ACE won again and went into the quarter finals ( final 8 teams) the game was very close but we lost.
The girls scored lots of goals with Erin netting 13 goals, Amy 9 and Isabel 2. ACE defence worked hard, and Mo had her best performances of the season.
We all had a brilliant time and we’re very proud of the effort in extremely high temperatures.
