On Saturday, the Shooting team entered the first Kent Schools Friendly Dewar Match, shot between SVS, Sevenoaks School and Tonbridge School. This match, shot at the Tunbridge Wells Target Shooting Club, saw two teams of four from each school (24 students in total) shoot at 50 metres and 100 yards. The SVS team had shot only twice at 50 metres, apart from long-range veterans Callum Davis and Daniel Wild (both Lower Sixth), and never at 100 yards, so they were looking forward to this new experience. The team ranged from captain Thomas Arthur (Upper Sixth) to our youngest shooter, Archie Burden (Third Form).

Overall, the SVS A team was the top team with 1476 points out of 1600, which is an exceptional achievement for our first outing at long-range. Callum Davis was also the best individual, with a total score of 376 out of 400.

SVS was declared the best school overall, with both A and B team scores combined. Special mention must go to James Gardener (Lower Sixth), who has never shot at long-range before, for coming second overall, with a score of 375, just one point shy of Callum. The full team should be proud of their achievement, especially at such a high level – winning against other Kent schools with our limited experience demonstrates what potential our young team has.

We look forward to more smallbore long-range shooting in the autumn and our thanks must go to Tim Blackwell from Tonbridge School for organising this event so meticulously and for co-ordinating the day so smoothly.