Video: https://drive.google.com/a/challoners.org/file/d/0ByH41whuUvC_ZGVaaUhlNWxpV28/preview

We are currently seeking £400,000 for our 'Perfect Pitch' Campaign to revitalise our musical and sporting facilities.

We believe that we have in place the ethos, the attitude, the willingness and the enthusiasm to deliver a fantastic extra curricular program to support the wider educational needs of our students to support their education. The benefits of extra-curricular activities have been explored, and many Challoner’s students down the years will tell you how much they have been able to get from the school in this regard.

The problem we face at the moment is that the key facilities we have with which to deliver much of this extra curricular excellence are in significant need of updating. We would like to invest in two key areas, the AstroTurf and the Music department. The astroturf is patched and without attention will become dangerous to use. In the Music Department, the roof is failing and the practice facilities are inadequate for the 1300 students we now have

The astroturf was installed in 2005 and has been used relentlessly ever since. House football competitions, recreational soccer for 75 Sixth Formers at a time on a Wednesday afternoon and as a playground for younger students during the summer, when the tennis courts are being used for tennis all mean that our students’ healthy lifestyles are supported by the AstroTurf. Astroturf carpets have a life expectancy and ours is past its sell by date. It is becoming worn in places and, if we don’t do anything about it it will soon become dangerous. We have plans in place to upgrade it this summer with a modern surface, approved by world Hockey’s governing body, to be used for hockey, football, cricket practices and recreational sports. This new surface will secure the opportunities outlined above for the next 15 years worth of Challoner’s students.

In 1911, shortly after the school relocated from what is now Gilbey’s restaurant the building to your left as you walk into school was opened, as the Domestic Science room. The basement was the school coal cellar and, bar a few licks of paint and a new carpet every now and again, very little has happened to it since then. The cellar is damp and rather unsavoury, while the roof is on its last legs. It currently functions as one of two music classrooms (the other was added much more recently, in the late 1990s) and is characteristic of our rather substandard music facilities. However, we have a rich history of performance and musical culture at the school, which shows what could be possible if we were blessed with modern facilities. By comparison with the rest of the school they are shabby and not fit for modern teaching and music making. For example, we don’t have the spaces for small groups and ensembles to practice, to be coached or to experiment. Too often students are turned away from music spaces at lunchtime simply because they are full.

We want to transform our spaces to create the facilities to support the richness of our extra-curricular programmes.

If you are able to help, please make a donation:

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For any further information, please contact our Development Director, Clare Atkinson on 01494787570