Levelling the playing field

Rob Rawlinson, Head of Sport at Queen Ethelburga’s, talks us through the school’s impressive sports facilities

IE Staff

All of Queen Ethelburga’s students follow a sports programme with the values of fair play, honesty and determination at its heart. Our motto of ‘be the best that I can, with the gifts that I have’ is never more evident than through the work we do as Team QE.

Students at QE have access to an impressive 150 sports and activities each week, including popular sports such as rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket, swimming, basketball, rounders, tennis, dance, gymnastics, trampolining, climbing, athletics, badminton and volleyball.

Our team of sports staff cater for all abilities and encourage each student to make the most of all the fantastic opportunities on offer during their time here. We have a well-honed mix of physical education teachers and specialist sports coaches, many of whom are ex-professional sportspeople themselves. This means there really is no limit to the level at which our students can train.

Health and fitness is so central to school life for students that many continue with sport and exercise, either recreationally or as a route of study, long after they have left us.

What enables us to deliver all of this sporting activity so successfully of course, is the outstanding range of high-quality facilities on campus. We are pretty unique in that we have a dedicated sports village, opened by Yorkshire sporting champions Alistair and Jonny Brownlee in 2016, to which all students have access to, both inside and outside of formal school hours.

Health and fitness is so central to school life for students that many continue with sport and exercise long after they have left us

The village is home to a 25-metre swimming pool, triple court sports hall, 100 station fitness suite and free weights centre. Outside we have a six-lane synthetic cushioned running track and over 30 acres of both grass and 4G artificial pitches. We also have a number of specialist studios used for martial arts, wrestling, dance, gymnastics, table tennis, cycling, archery, fencing and boxing.

In addition to all of this, the students can make use of an eight-metre climbing wall at the campus activity centre, which also houses an assault course, BMX track and additional tennis courts.

There really is something for everyone, whatever their interest or ability.