Schools Championships

In 2016 and 2017 England Hockey consulted with clubs and schools about its annual programme of competitions.  

One of the key messages we heard the most was the need to provide appropriate competition depending on a team’s ability. This is particularly relevant to our schools competitions where up until 2018/19 all schools entered the same level of competition, whatever their level of hockey activity or ability. 

England Hockey had successfully introduced tiered Championships for clubs – adults, masters and juniors - in the 2017/18 season. In 2018/19 we introduced tiered Schools Championships.  

These Championships provide different levels of competitive opportunities for schools. England Hockey will provide guidance on which Tier may suit which level of school team, however this can only be guidance, and within any Tier there may still be teams of variable experience and ability. 

The competitions offer includes ones based on the traditional County competitions, leading to Area and National finals, knockout competitions and, at U16 and U18 level, leagues for high performing schools specialising in hockey. 

We have categorised schools as follows:

Please note: All competitions are 11-a-side unless shown. 

England Hockey is pleased to confirm that it is planned to again run a range of Schools Championships for the 2023-24 season sponsored by Notts Sport.

There are changes to programme, in line with the feedback received from participating schools in our survey last year. Please read through the information below. 

These changes have been made to help better define the tiers schools should play at. In addition, to simplify the programme, where a Plate competition is run for early round losers this will be referred to (for example) as Tier 1 Plate, rather than Tier 2.  

Entry to the National Championships, detailed below, is now open via the link below

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=NvkYmuiQxU--asEa8eSc6glBgZrqFi5Go4lwJNC9k8pUNE9NTTdXN0YwR1dIM1RDR0hNU1VaTEhFNS4u

This page provides more details of Championships where teams enter nationally.

In addition Areas and Counties will organise lower Tier activity for schools.

U18 TIER 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Overview

The Girls and Boys Under 18 Tier 1 Championships will run as a maximum of 4 parallel Premier Divisions with 8 teams in each. The competition can run with a smaller number of teams. On completion of fixtures in the divisions, teams will be drawn to play quarter finals and semi-finals leading to the final. The Championships will run over the Autumn and Easter terms.

The aim of the competition is to provide high level competition for schools’ specialising in hockey. You can see details of last season’s entrants, results and standings on our website . Schools who enter the U18 T1 Championships are expected also to enter any U14 and U16 team in the relevant Tier 1 Championships too.

Teams will be drawn into Divisions, this will be done on a geographic basis. Once drawn, teams will need to arrange fixtures. Matches must be played midweek. Teams will not be expected to play matches outside of their term dates.

In the Boys’ competition teams will need to play a minimum of 3 league fixtures before Christmas, which will be drawn by England Hockey. However with an early Easter in 2024 meaning earlier finals, teams may consider playing more games prior to Christmas. England Hockey will set a range of dates for matches. Teams who enter will be asked to provide further details of term dates and preferred playing days in the week.

Dates

Entry Fee - £130.00

Closing Date.  Friday 27 May for both Girls and Boys Tier 1 Championships.

U16 TIER 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS NOTE NEW FORMAT

Overview

The Girls and Boys Under 16 Tier 1 Championships will run on a similar basis to the U18 Tier 1 Championships to provide high level competition for schools’ specialising in hockey. The Championships will run as a maximum of 8 parallel Premier Divisions with a maximum of 5 teams in each. Divisions will be organised on a geographic basis. Once drawn, teams will need to arrange fixtures. Matches must be played midweek. Teams will not be expected to play matches outside of their term dates The competition can run with a smaller number of teams. On completion of fixtures in the divisions, teams will be drawn to play last 16, quarter finals and semi-finals leading to the final.

The championships will run during similar periods to the 2022-23 tournaments, Girls in the Autumn term, concluding in the Easter term, Boys in the Easter term concluding early in the Summer term.

Entry Fee - £130.00

Closing Date. Friday 27 May for both Girls and Boys Tier 1 Championships.

GIRLS AND BOYS UNDER 18 TIER 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS
GIRLS AND BOYS UNDER 16 TIER 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS

GIRLS AND BOYS UNDER 14 TIER 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Girls and Boys Under 18 Tier 2 Championships and the Girls and Boys Under 16 Tier 2 Championships and new for 2023-24, the Girls and Boys Under 14 Tier 1 Championships will run as knockout tournaments. Losers in Round 1 and Round 2 will play in a parallel Plate competition.

The aim of the U16 and U18 competitions are to provide a competitive knockout for traditional hockey schools. The U14 competition is primarily aimed at schools specialising in hockey but open to other schools wishing to play at this level. 

The draws for all Rounds up to the Semi Finals will be made at the start of the competition so teams will know who they may face in latter rounds. Matches will be drawn within zones so that teams will play locally although as teams progress travel distances will increase.

For the first three rounds teams will know if they are drawn at home or away. For subsequent rounds, where practical, home advantage will be allocated depending on how many home or away matches teams in a tie have played, up to that stage in the competition. This is to endeavour to ensure that there is some equality in terms of home/away ties for teams who progress to the latter stages of the competition. In all competitions matches will be played at home venues apart from the finals which will be played at a neutral venue.

Dates

Matches must be played midweek by the relevant play by date, see below, and teams drawn to play against each other should discuss and agree the date and start time. Given that early round draws are known in advance, teams should look to make arrangements for possible future matches too.  Teams will not be expected to play matches outside of their term dates.

The actual number of rounds is dependent on the number of entries.

In the U18 T2 Championships there will be 6 rounds prior to the semi finals if there are more than 128 entrants but fewer than 256. There were 120 Girls and 109 Boys entries in 2022-23. In the U16 T2 Championships we anticipate fewer entrants than 2022-23 (Girls – 80, Boys - 81) due to the introduction of the new T1 format with a maximum of 64 teams, ie 5 rounds prior to the semi finals. We anticipate fewer than 64 teams in the U14 Tier 1 Championships

Entry Fee - £73.00

Closing Date for Girls Boys Under 18 Tier 2 Championships, Under 16 Tier 2 Championships and Under 14 Tier 1 Championships Friday 10 June for Girls Championships and Tuesday 04 October for Boys Championships.

REGULATIONS

Full regulations, which will be based on standard England Hockey Knockout and Schools competition regulations, will be issued with joining details.

A team may only be entered in one competition, this does not include where a “Plate” competition is run for early round losers in the relevant Championships.  

Players can only play in one age group and in one competition, except that in certain circumstances a goalkeeper may play in more than one age group. 

Players must be on the school roll for the full academic year. Nb in 2024-25 this regulation is subject to change whereby in the Under 16 Championships players must have been on the school roll in the previous academic year.

Where a school enters separate teams in the U18 Tier 1 and U18 Tier 2 competitions they will need to submit a squad list of 16 players who can only play in the Tier 1 Championship

Home teams are responsible for pitch costs and any costs associated with umpires appointed by local associations.

Subject to the agreement of the losing team a match may be concluded early when the margin of defeat exceeds eight goals.

Teams entering Tier 1 Championships may enter a 2nd XI in Tier 2 Championships but not Tier 3.  

OUTSTANDING ENTRY FEES

A small number of schools have outstanding entry fees from previous seasons and have been contacted by us. Please note that we will be unable to accept entries from schools where these remain unresolved.

FINALLY

If you have any queries regarding the Schools Championships please email me in the first instance as below

Treena Partridge
Schools Championships Coordinator
schools.championships@englandhockey.co.uk,