Warwickshire News Mine

The John Atkinson Sports Centre at Myton School has been built using a £1.5m grant from the Big Lottery Fund’s £750 million New Opportunities for PE and Sport Programme. The programme will create new and improved PE and sports facilities and funding to support community use of these services across England.
The Centre is being officially opened on Friday 27th January by Dougie Brown the England and Warwickshire cricketer.  The Centre is named after John Atkinson who has been a Governor at Myton School for almost 20 years, and during his Chairmanship of the Governing Body worked tirelessly with the Headteacher to secure funding for the 4 badminton court size sports hall.

Mr Ian Hecks, Headteacher at Myton School said: “The school and local community are absolutely delighted with our new Sports Hall. It will go a long way to meeting the great demand for sports facilities and coaching in the area, raising standards of PE and Sport and increasing participation.  We have always excelled at sport and these facilities will ensure we continue to do so.  The Sports Hall, together with our floodlit Astroturf provide our students and the local community with some outstanding sporting facilities.  It has taken over eight years of hard work to realise, but the new Sports Hall makes all the effort worthwhile.”

The Sports Hall belongs to the School, and will be run in the evenings, weekends and holiday periods by Warwick District Council .  Dale Best, Head of Leisure & Amenities at Warwick District Council added: “The addition of this sports hall means that the School will play a more central role in providing access to PE and Sport for this thriving community.”

The project has been developed through Warwickshire County Council as part of a £3.5m allocation it secured from the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of schools.  Project Director and Education Officer Phil Astle said: “It is wonderful to see this excellent and much needed facility in place.  The project has been a great example of a school, government agency and the County Council working together for children and the community.” 

John Taylor, Big Lottery Fund of the West Midlands region, said: "This Sports Hall will be a vital resource for the school and community. Myton School is leading the way in this area – providing access to high quality sports facilities to thousands of users and developing a new role as a local hub for PE and Sport. This is just one of hundreds of similar projects we have funded.  Our funding is changing the face of sporting provision in our schools and communities, providing many more young people with the opportunity to engage in a range of physical activities.”

Link to WCC