Ratcliffe College drives ahead with Second Sports Hall Development

Ratcliffe College is proud to announce that it is about to commence work on a £2.8 million second Sports Hall development to complement its outstanding facilities. Headmaster, Mr Jonathan Reddin, commented: “We are delighted that we will be able to nurture the sporting gifts and talents of our students further by providing this wonderful state-of-the-art facility. The new Sports Hall is being built to accommodate the requirements of children across the age range so that everyone’s needs can be completely fulfilled. We are so pleased that Pure Construction and architects Franklin Ellis won the tender and have the opportunity to build the second phase of the Preparatory School project, having built the fabulous new Preparatory School which opened in 2014. We look forward to sharing our new facility with the local community as we further develop partnerships with other local schools.”

Headmaster, Mr Jon Reddin takes to the wheel, with Father Chris Cann (Head of Prep School), Miss Rachel Green (Head of Nursery) and Mr David Robson (Director of Finance), ready to break the ground.

Ratcliffe College’s growing reputation for sport has been supported and enhanced by several new facilities in recent years, including a second full-size floodlit astroturf which opened in September 2017, a floodlit synthetic athletics track which opened at the same time, new floodlit netball courts, with the construction of a new two-storey fitness suite well underway and scheduled to open in February 2019. These new facilities are shared with a number of local county sports associations as well as sports clubs and schools, supporting community sport as well as Ratcliffe College students. Following the establishment of our unique partnership with Leicester City Football Club (through King Power), educating two cohorts of Thai Scholars, we have recently agreed a partnership with Leicestershire County Cricket Club, who will use the College’s facilities for all their under 12 to under 15 county home cricket fixtures from the summer of 2019, whilst providing expert coaching for our own students.

Head of Preparatory School, Fr Christopher Cann said: “It has been wonderful to see sport in the Preparatory School going from strength-to-strength over the last few years, with both our under 11 cricketers and now our under 11 girls’ hockey teams making it to national finals. We have introduced a second sports afternoon for our Years 5 and 6 students, and the children will be thrilled with this amazing new facility and all the extra opportunities it will afford them. As a recognised centre of sporting excellence, we look forward to hosting regional and national events through the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools and extending our very important partnerships with primary schools in the area through our football, netball and cross country festivals.”

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L to R: Ivan Tomasevic and Jon Crabb (Franklin Ellis); John Maycock and Simon Ellis (Pure Construction); Ratcliffe College staff: Headmaster, Mr Jon Reddin, Father Chris Cann (Head of Prep School), Miss Rachel Green (Head of Nursery) and Mr David Robson (Director of Finance). All ready to break the ground.