Friends of Trinity St Mary's CE Primary School

Friends of Trinity St Marys CE Primary School charity has been set up with the specific purpose to raise funding for the redevelopment of the upper school playground. The new design is being put together with the help of the School Council and will involve resurfacing the playground, installing a multi-sport cage and building outdoor classroom seating. You can see the state of the current playground on the Sports Day video from last summer (https://trinity-st-marys-ce-primary-school.primarysite.media/media/ks1-and-ks2-sports-day-2021). 

Our aim is to raise £30,000 and the renovations will not only improve the facilities and education of current and future pupils of TSM, it will also allow the school to partner with more clubs and associations to offer after-school, weekend and holiday sports clubs  benefitting the school and the wider community.

TSM takes part in the School Games Awards which cover Participation, Competition, Workforce, and Clubs and the school is currently a School Games "Bronze Award" holder. With the opening of the MUGA and the opportunities for further community cooperation and increased PE provision at the school, she aims to achieve “Gold Award” status by the end of the academic year 2023. 

The lack of team sports played by primary school children over the pandemic has shown proven decline in hand-eye coordination, collaboration, resilience and mental health. The launching of the MUGA at Trinity St Mary’s will help reverse the negative effects of Covid-19 for current and future pupils of the school as well as other children in the local community. With the long-term effects of the pandemic now meeting with the cost of living crisis, afterschool childcare and sports clubs will become too expensive for many families and TSM sees the growing importance to offer affordable options for their pupils.

Once launched, approximately 300 children (aged 3-11) from Wandsworth will use the MUGA / upper-school playground each year. 150 current pupils plus 20/week for after-school clubs, plus 20 for each holiday camp (20x3 = 60 per year), plus 70 from nearby schools for matches / tournament

 In June 2022, TSM’s School Council conducted a questionnaire with the help of the school’s Place to Be representative asking pupils what sports/activities they would like to learn/play using the new MUGA and surrounding space / seating. We have also shared the design with sports club partners who have advised on the best dimensions / surface (e.g. Balham FC will be able to run training sessions for U9-U11 once launched). Friends of TSM have been meeting regularly with the school to discuss usage for the MUGA / surrounding area and the importance of tracking outcomes. 

As well as the requests from the current pupils and staff for improved sports facilities at TSM, there has also been requests from the local sports clubs. Balham FC and Spencer Hockey have both complained of a lack of facilities for grass roots training, especially for Key Stage 1 and 2 children and have emailed Friends of TSM with their endorsement of the building of the new MUGA project.

TSM currently offers hugely subsidised after-school and before-school clubs (including netball and dodgeball) but want to do more for their pupils by partnering with external coaches and utilising the new facilities during weekends and school holidays.