New Sport Pitch opening at Webster Primary School, Manchester

Webster Primary School in Manchester is delighted to announce the opening of its innovative new playground and sports pitch. The distinctive LIFE surface, which stands for Learning In Fun Environments is the latest development in giving children safe yet exciting and stimulating surroundings in which to play and learn sports.

Bringing the all-weather pitch to the school to replace the previous hard and uneven area was the initiative of the School Committee made up of elected pupils from years 2 to 6. The pupils even got involved in the design of the artificial turf pitch, which includes a multi sport area, two tennis courts and the school’s badge taking pride of place on the front.

The surface, made by leading turf manufacturers TigerTurf, has been extremely popular with the children for games and sports as well as providing a social area and learning environment. The new area puts the emphasis on inclusion and involvement which has a positive impact on every aspect of the pupils life at school.

The official opening of this new facility included a visit from Jennie Bimson, member of the Great Britain and England Hockey teams. Jennie took time out of her hectic training schedule for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing to head up a coaching session for the pupils on the new pitch.

Jennie said ”The squad and I are training seven days a week in preparing for the Olympics, but I felt it was important to be here today to support this new initiative. My own involvement in sport has enabled me to travel the world to play and I want to see the same opportunities passed on to the next generation of potential sports stars. Great facilities encourage more kids to get involved and that can only be a really good thing.”

The brightly coloured sports pitch come playground embrace fitness and fun whilst also acting to reduce levels of anti-social behaviour through extra mental and physical stimulation. The surface is made from a soft and tactile material that is safe for the youngest of children and those with special needs.

TigerTurf, the UK leading turf manufacturer and partner of the Youth Sport Trust, is planning more surfaces in schools across the country. Each surface will be designed around the specific needs of each school and TigerTurf offer a long-term commitment to the school after the surface has been installed.

The pioneering playgrounds will soon be incorporating a subsurface of ground up trainers in partnership with the Nike Grind recycling scheme. Refurbished playgrounds across England are high on the agenda of the 10-year Children’s Plan, announced recently by the government. £1 billion pounds are to be spent improving facilities and £225 million pounds being earmarked for playgrounds alone. School Secretary Ed Balls is calling it “he biggest expansion of youth services and children's play in our country's history.

The purpose of this new initiative according to Mr Balls was to make Britain the best place in the world for our children to grow up.

He said he was responding to “the concern of parents who wanted more support to keep their children happy, healthy, playing, but also doing well at school”.