School's new £1.4 million sports hall to open early

Rugby High School, which has more than 800 pupils, celebrated gaining the large sum of government funding for their new sports hall in March.

Before the school was awarded the grant it was the only secondary school in Rugby without modern sports facilities.

The school, which is located on Longrood Road, has a 1960s gym, complete with wall bars and climbing ropes, which was a state-of-the-art facility when the school moved to its new site, in 1960.

The new facilities include: four badminton courts, one full-sized netball court, cricket nets, trampolines, retractable match basketball hoops as well as practice hoops, an electronic scoreboard, a Futsal court, table tennis equipment, a classroom and an office, and male and female changing rooms. There will also be 25 parking spaces.

The sports hall is now nearing completion and it is anticipated to be ready for use at the start of the new school year, one month before the scheduled finish date.

Mrs Nicole Wallace, head of PE at Rugby High School, said: “In my ten years here at Rugby High, a Sports Hall has always been the dream.

“It is amazing that we are now so close to having this brand new facility which is going to provide even more opportunities for the girls. Now, they’ll be able to experience sports that they haven’t had access to before. This has been long overdue. No longer will girls be missing out on what should be a basic provision. It is such an exciting time.”