St Michael’s Preparatory School girls’ side have been named ninth in the country for football following the National IAPS finals earlier this month.

They competed in the finals at Amesbury School.

The tournament format was a two-league system, with each team playing five games and the top two teams from each league advancing to the semi-finals.

The St Michael’s girls began strongly as they dominated against Fairfield School and Berkhamsted School, but both games ended in 0-0 draws.

In their third fixture, St Michael’s lost 2-0 to St Piran’s School’s team before further goalless draws against Hoe Bridge School and St Alban’s School.

These results weren’t enough to secure a semi-final place for St Michael’s.

But in their final positional game with St George’s School, the Otford-based school played some of their best football yet to secure a 2-1 victory.

Director of sport at St Michael’s Preparatory School, Steve Brightman, said: “We are incredibly proud of the girls.

“They have been on a wonderful journey, developing incredible team camaraderie, showing great resilience and energy and, most importantly, always playing with big smiles on their faces.”

There was, however, county hockey success to celebrate after the under-11 girls won the Kent hockey tournament this month.

They travelled to Canterbury for the competition and, having secured wins against Ashford School (2-0), Sevenoaks Prep team (2-0) and Radnor House (8-0) to come top of their group, they ran out 2-0 victors over Junior King’s, Canterbury, in the semi-final.

St Michael’s then produced an impressive display to win 3-0 against Sevenoaks Prep in the final to become Kent champions for the third year in a row.

Ruth Bingham, Games teacher at St Michael’s, said: “The whole team should be congratulated on scoring 17 goals and conceding none - an amazing effort from them all.”