Schools & Colleges
Matthew Pullen is only the fourth Head Groundsman at The Leys School in Cambridge since the 1950s. The fifty acre site is maintained by a grounds team of just five.
In this article, he tells our editor about the
improvements he has made since his arrival, and his plans for the future.
Report by Laurence Gale MSc
PULLEN... in one
first met Matt Pullen five years ago at Whitgift School in Croydon, when I was judging him for the Cricket Groundsman of the Year competition Since then, Matt has moved on to become Head Groundsman at The Leys, an independent school in Cambridge. I arrived at 10.30am just as the staff
were enjoying their mid-morning brew. Matt introduced me to the rest of his team.
The school has a reputation for looking after its staff, with Matt’s assistants, Danny Church, and Mal Lawton, both having completed over twenty years service. Matt is only the fourth head groundsman to take up the post since the 1950s. Gardener, Shaun Mahoney, and apprentice, Ashley Shipp, complete the grounds team.
The school was founded in 1875, at a time when a large number were being founded by the Methodist Church. Whilst there were already several leading schools providing an education for the sons of ministers, Methodists were asking for schools for the sons of lay members. The Methodist Conference set up a committee to look at the possibility of starting a school at Oxford or Cambridge. Following several visits to Cambridge, a twenty acre site was discovered for sale - The Leys Estate. The Reverend Doctor W.F. Moulton,
direction I
In 1938, The Leys Governors
acquired St Faith’s Preparatory School and established The Leys and St Faith’s Charitable Foundation. Strong links remain between the two schools. Both The Leys and St Faith’s use the sportsfields on a daily basis. Sport is an important part of the curriculum with the school continuing to improves its facilities. Since Matt’s appointment, two new sand dressed full size artificial pitches have been installed.
Since its foundation, the school has
acquired additional land and is now set in fifty acres near the centre of Cambridge. The sportsgrounds are divided into two sites - Main Campus and Latham Road - with pupils having to walk to the Latham Road sports pitches. There is also a superb sports complex on campus, including a sports hall, gym, squash courts, aerobics studio, floodlit astro-turf
Matt Pullen 102 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012
First impressions of the school are often formed by the the presentation of the grounds
secretary of the committee, was asked to become headmaster of the new school and The Leys formally opened its doors on 16th February 1875, with sixteen boys from English Methodist families. Within two years, this number had grown to one hundred. Since that time, The Leys has
expanded significantly. Today the school is an independent, fully co- educational boarding and day school with over 530 pupils from all walks of life.
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