A Monmouth school will be teaming up with one of the UK’s leading netball clubs for an exciting new partnership.

Monmouth School for Girls will be running a Severn Stars Under-17 Nova Academy for its talented netball players from September.

Severn Stars Netball is a joint franchise between the University of Worcester and University of Gloucestershire and a member of the Vitality Super League, the top level in British club netball.

Severn Stars runs Nova Academies for under-17s in educational centres across the West Midlands and south west region, including in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire.

The aim of Severn Stars’ Nova Academy programme is to engage with the surrounding area and develop a pool of young talent.

Severn Stars Executive Director and Co-founder, Anita Navin, said: “Our Nova Academy programme has been a great success over the last three years.

“The addition of Monmouth School for Girls will continue to build upon the expansion of talented players in the Nova Academy programme. The school has a strong background of developing performance players.”

The Head Coach for the new Monmouth School for Girls’ Nova Academy will be Mrs Sian Morgan, a PE teacher and a former English Universities netballer.

“We have a number of very talented netball players at our school who will benefit greatly from this exciting partnership,” said Mrs Morgan, a former first-team captain at the University of Exeter, who joined the staff at Monmouth in January 2019.

“It will give our girls access to top quality coaching and strength and conditioning, as well as an opportunity to compete against other talented players within the Nova Academy programme.”

Mrs Jessica Miles, Headmistress at Monmouth School for Girls, added: “Our girls have had a lot of success on the netball court both locally and nationally this season.

The girls will work towards competing in the Severn Stars Under-17 National Performance League team and, beyond that, the club’s under-19, under-21 and professional sides.

The Nova Academies will compete against each other in monthly match-play sessions and a Supernova Tournament normally rounds off the season in May.

As part of the Nova Academy programme, the Monmouth girls will receive Severn Stars training kit, a training journal and a ticket to watch a Severn Stars home game in Worcester.

Netball at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools is offered to pupils from years 3 to 13 with regular school fixtures, starting at Monmouth School Girls’ Prep.

For further information on the Nova Academies and the Severn Stars Talent Pathway, please visit www.severnstars.co.uk/playerpathway<http://www.severnstars.co.uk/playerpathway