Surrey connect with local schools

Published 14 November 2007

Surrey batting legend, Mark Ramprakash, was on hand last week to support Surrey County Cricket Club on their community day, which saw local school physical education teachers attend a seminar at the Brit Oval.

The seminar, which included a welcome from Surrey County Cricket Club’s Chief Executive, Paul Sheldon, and talks from Community Manager, George Foster and Playing for Success Centre Manager, Steve Wilson, concentrated on the opportunities available to schools in the local area.

The three main opportunities are the government initiatives: Playing for Success, ECHO and Education Project, of which two are actively available at the Brit Oval. Surrey have partnered with Lambeth Council, Connaught and Drivers Jonas to provide schools in the local community an opportunity to take part in the Playing for Success and Education Project schemes.

Playing for Success is an ongoing after school scheme run in partnership with Lambeth, the Department for Education and Skills and Connaught. It is based in our dedicated community classroom, the Ben Hollioake Learning Centre, and delivers an innovative ten-week curriculum of IT and numeracy literacy inspired by a combination of cricket, other sports and pupils’ own interests. The scheme is aimed at pupils who lack motivation or inspiration at school – something that the setting of the Brit Oval can provide.

The Education Project is a scheme that effectively opens the doors of the Brit Oval to every school in Lambeth by acting as their classroom for the day. A class is taught in the Ben Hollioake Learning Centre, followed by coaching and a tour of the ground. This will be followed at a later date with tickets to a domestic match of the childrens' choice. The scheme was run from Jan – May this year with over 30 schools attending. Since September Surrey have been looking to run the scheme four mornings per week for 30 weeks of the year. This means that over 4,000 children would benefit from the scheme over the year, providing them with an inspirational insight into cricket and sport in general.

Ramprakash was a member of the panel who, after the presentations, fielded questions from the local schools representatives. From here the Surrey man guided the group to the Lambeth Hall and Ben Hollioake Learning Centre, where examples of the schemes were being run.