Educational Establishments
S
chools, like football clubs, can vary dramatically in the scope and scale of sporting provision and grounds maintenance.
The Premiership of private schools run turf machinery fleets to rival any in football. Many others must adopt more creative means to ensure facilities are kept up to scratch, especially given the relentless advance of health and safety issues across education and the need to ensure students can play sport in a protective environment. In some schools, personnel skilled in one
aspect of provision are assuming wider responsibility for grounds maintenance tasks as their expertise broadens to embrace more duties outdoors, as well as those within school buildings. Yarm School is a case in point. Founded in
1978 by a group of parents in the Georgian market town of Yarm, North Yorkshire, it rests on a picturesque stretch of the River
Tees and is set in landscaped gardens based around The Friarage - characterful buildings dating back some 250 years. The school’s mix of modern and historic
accommodation provides outstanding classroom, music and sporting facilities. Although still young, Yarm embraces many of the traditions and features found in the best independents. Arguably the major educational success
story of the North-east in recent times, it is firmly established among the country’s leading schools of its kind. The attractive campus includes many modern, purpose-built facilities, such as the eyecatchingly futuristic boathouse and new sand-dressed hockey pitch, those befitting a school bidding to match its sporting prowess with its academic one. Yarm School spreads its sporting provision
across three sites - two nearby totalling twenty acres of playing fields, including the
cricket square, whilst those on the campus, aside from the new pitch and boathouse, include a smaller sand-filled synthetic surface and MUGA facility. Co-ordinating grounds maintenance, as
well as a huge spread of site responsibilities, is Estates Manager Alan Hodgson, who heads a thirty strong team spanning caretakers, gardeners, contractors and synthetic turf specialist Garry Cox. Formerly employed by CLS, the natural
and synthetic turf sports contractor that recently installed the hockey facility and built the boathouse under a £2m plus project, Garry will know as much about day-to-day running of the pitch as anyone. “His experience and expertise with these
surfaces is key,” Alan stresses. Intended to give Yarm a further shot in the arm for its hockey development programme, the sand- dressed pitch is maintained regularly to ensure it meets the exacting playing and
PC JUNE/JULY 2016 I 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156