A Nottingham school is encouraging groups to use its sports facilities as it becomes a thriving community hub. The Wells Academy is encouraging people of all shapes and sizes to make use of the Mapperley Sports Village on the school grounds, and is also hoping to develop job roles at the sports village.
Principal George Coles has that he would love to see the local community benefit from the range of facilities, including a large four-court sports hall, fully-equipped gym and two extra rooms which can be used as meeting spaces or classrooms. There is also an Astro cricket strip and three football pitches, one of which is artificial and can be flood-lit in the evenings.
The site also has a children’s play area and plenty of parking. Mapperley Sports Village was previously run by Nottingham City Council but is now owned and run by Greenwood Academies Trust, which runs the academy.
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Pupils at the academy have their PE lessons in the sports village and it is also used by some local groups for various sports, such as badminton and gymnastics. However, the academy feels that the village can be used for a broader range of activities, such as netball, indoor cricket, and yoga.
Leaders at the academy would like to see the facilities achieve greater use, which would then help generate funds that could be used to revamp some of the buildings on the site. Mr Coles said: “Mapperley Sports Village is an incredible facility and I would love to see more groups from the community breathe the life back into it.
"These fantastic indoor and outdoor sports areas should be at the heart of the community and I would love to see more groups come to make good use of what’s here. It would be great to see it used not just by our students but also benefit a much wider section of the local community too.”
The sports village could also be used for conferences and work-related gatherings as it has screens for Powerpoint presentations and a kitchen, and staff also feel the village could be an ideal venue for children’s parties. Sports centre manager Martin Gooden said: “It’s a fantastic community facility which could be put to such a wide range of uses.
"It would be great to encourage community groups to use it more. We’d love to see everything from children’s parties, or organisations who would like a meeting space – whether they’re charities or church groups – come forward and use this wide range of spaces that’s available right here in the heart of Nottingham.”
The Wells Academy would love to hear from any community groups who think they could make use of any facilities at Mapperley Sports Village, which is available outside school hours and at weekends. The school is also looking to develop opportunities for jobs in the local area and anyone interested in casual roles within the sports village should contact them at admin@thewellsacademy.org
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