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 started the roll out of tiered Schools Championships. After the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were impacted by Covid this rollout was continued and formats revised and modified. We now have a variety of Championships to provide different levels of competitive opportunities for schools plus locally and national State School Festivals.

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. 

Our guidance for categorising schools is as follows, however please note these categories are currently under review. Broadly whilst the Tiering has been a success, in some Areas it is felt that a small number of teams are playing at too low a Tier and Areas retain the right to decline entry into  Area lead tournaments.

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

INTRODUCTION 

England  Hockey  is  pleased  to  confirm  that  we  will  again  run  a  full  range  of  Schools Championships for the 2025-26 season sponsored by Notts Sport. 

Entry to the Nationally lead Championships, detailed below, is now open via the link below.  https://forms.office.com/e/cxpZLAKrbS 

England Hockey reserves the right to revise the Tier that a school enters at. 

In addition, Areas will organise lower Tier activity for schools. Nb England Hockey and Areas retain the authority to decline an entry if they believe a school is playing at too low a tier. 

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 in the right hand column. 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 three league fixtures before Christmas, and in the Girls competition a minimum of two fixtures after Christmas. These will be drawn by England Hockey. 

England Hockey will set a range of dates for matches. 

 
Dates - provisional 

Entry Fee - £140.00 

Closing Date. 

Friday 23 May for both Girls and Boys Tier 1 Championships. 

U16 TIER 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Overview 

The Girls and Boys Under 16 Tier 1 Championships will again run with pools leading to knockout games 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. For teams who do not qualify for the last 16 a separate Plate competition will run. 

The championships will run during similar periods to the 2024-25 tournaments, Girls in the Autumn term, concluding in the Easter term, Boys in the Easter term concluding early in the Summer term. The provisional dates are as follows 

Entry Fee - £140.00 

Friday 23 May for both Girls and Boys Tier 1 Championships. 

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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. the Girls and Boys Under 16 Tier 2 Championships and the Girls and Boys Under 14 Tier 1 Championship 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 these Championships there will be 5 rounds prior to the semi-finals if there are fewer than 64 entrants, 6 rounds if between 64 - 128 entrants. There is an extra round for the Plate due to the structure. The provisional dates are as follows 

Entry Fee - £82.00 

Closing Date for Girls Boys Under 18 Tier 2 Championships, Under 16 Tier 2 Championships and Under 14 Tier 1 Championships 

Friday 06 June for Girls Championships and Tuesday 30 September 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 but please note the following points. 

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. 

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

In the U18 Tier 1 Championships it is expected that teams must fulfil fixtures on the agreed date. The penalty for failure to do will be considered by EHCD and this is subject to any remission or further penalty - for example points deduction, revision of score or fine, requirement that the fixture be played, disqualification from the subsequent season’s competition - that EHCD may determine to impose. Any team that forfeits more than one fixture will be removed from the competition, their playing record expunged and will not be eligible to enter at the U18 age group in 2026-27 unless approved by England Hockey. 

Subject to the agreement of the losing team a match in the U14 Tier 1, U16 Tier 2 and U18 Tier 2 Championships may be concluded early when the margin of defeat exceeds eight goals. 

Schools entering U18 Tier 1 Championships may not enter U16 Tier 3 Championships unless agreed by EHCD and Area. Schools entering U18 T1 and/or U16 T1 may enter a 2nd XI in the U16 and U18 Tier 2 Championships but not Tier 3 nor U14 Tier 2. Teams entering U18 Tier 2, U16 Tier 2 and U14 Tier 1 may not enter a 2nd XI into the relevant lower Tier championship (U18 T3, U16 T3, U14 T2). 

Entry into the Plate competitions for the U14 Tier 1, U16 Tier 2 and U18 Tier 2 Championships is only for teams who have played and lost in the initial Championships. In exceptional circumstances EHCD has the discretion to agree to allow entry where a team has not been able to fulfil a fixture. 

OUTSTANDING ENTRY FEES 

A small number of schools have outstanding entry fees and/or missing result report forms 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. 

NEW REGULATIONS RE PLAYER ELIGBILITY 

The following will be introduced as competition regulations for the 2025-26 season. To stress, these relate to EH run Schools Championships only and do not apply for any other schools’ hockey activity or other competitions unless similar regulations are applied by the organisers. 

1.In the U18 Competitions unless an educational establishment is i. a State School or ii has been granted Collegiate status (available to schools who only have an intake of a specific gender in the sixth form / Year 12) only a total of three players who have joined the educational establishment in Years 12 and 13 are permitted to be part of the squad of players selected for any one match (subject to iii. below). For 2025-26 only, players who joined and played for the school in 2024-25 are exempt from this regulation. 

iii A team may select any player who has transferred into the school in Year 12 from an English educational establishment that only offers education up to Year 11. Such players must be registered in advance with the competition manager.

2. Full-Time Academic Education

i. Players must be full members of the named school and must be enrolled to take a full part in the school's academic curriculum for the full academic year.

ii. Players must take public examinations at the same centre as the rest of the school

iii. Players’ academic results must be included in their school’s published statistics including those seen in the government’s league tables and the national press. 

Any queries contact schools.championships@englandhockey.co.uk 

All dates are provisional 
 
Girls U18 Tier 3, U16 Tier 3, U14 Tier 2 – 9th February  

Girls & Boys U18 Tier 1 & Girls U18 Tier 2, U16 Tier 2, U14 Tier 1 - 10th-12th March  

Boys U18 Tier 3, U16 Tier 3, U14 Tier 2 – 23rd March  

Boys U18 Tier 2, U16 Tier 2, U14 Tier 1 – 23rd/24th April  

Schools In2 Finals - 15th May 

The following Area led competitions will run for the 2025-26 season for both Boys and Girls

• U18 Tier 3 Championships
• U16 Tier 3 Championships
• U14 Tier 2 Championships

For these competitions and U11, U12 & U13 In2Hockey competitions please contact your Area Schools Competition Organiser. 

If you are unsure as to who this is, please email schools.championships@englandhockey.co.uk.

Thursday 26th and Friday 27th March

The festival is played as 7 a-side games, for boy’s teams and girl’s teams, playing to the In2Hockey rules,  with a maximum squad of 10 players.   

All Schools are able to enter this festival, it does not depend on qualification from any County or Area festival.   

If you have any queries or questions regarding this festival, please contact competitions.info@englandhockey.co.uk

State School Festivals for 2026: