After many months of fundraising the Marine Academy Plymouth Campus in St Budeaux is delighted to announce they have a brand new 3G football pitch!  

The campus consists of Marine Academy Primary and Marine Academy Secondary, both part of the Ted Wragg Trust family of schools, and educates children from the ages of 2 to 18.  An official opening ceremony for the new state of the art pitch will take place in the Spring but it’s now open for kick off.

3G stands for a third-generation synthetic surface which consists of three elements: synthetic turf, sand infill and rubber infill.  The pitch has been funded by the Ted Wragg Trust, Plymouth City Council, and a grant from the Football Foundation.  

The Football Foundation is the Premier League, The FA and Government’s charity which delivers outstanding grassroots facilities, more and better places to play, transforming lives and communities where it’s needed the most.  The foundation’s goal is to unlock the power of pitches to transform lives and strengthen communities, ensuring everyone has a great place to play regardless of gender, race, disability, or place.

The 3G pitch, constructed by Tiger Turf UK and McArdle Sport Tec and overseen by MGAC, will enable the Marine Academy schools to provide opportunities for their students to participate in physical activity outside all year round.  It will also grow the opportunities and capacity for their resident football club Marine Academy FC.  

The community will benefit as they will be able to use this fantastic football facility through the ‘Just Play’ initiatives delivered by coaches from the Marine Academy Plymouth Community Sports Complex; local teams and organisations are also able to hire the pitch.  Outside of the school day, when the schools have sole use of the pitch, the facility will be open for the community during the weekday evenings and daytime during the weekends, whilst during the school holidays, holiday club programmes and bookings will be available. 

The Community Sports Team at Marine Academy are excited to be able to release the new community 3G usage programme for January and are encouraging people to look out for their new sessions for children and adults. 

Siobhan Meredith Executive Director of Education, of the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust said:

“There are so many thank yous that we owe to a whole range of individuals but most importantly, we would like to thank the Football Foundation, Plymouth City Council and our Trust, the Ted Wragg Trust, for their financial contributions to make the dream of a 3G pitch a reality. 

“We would also like to thank the construction teams – Tiger Turf UK and McArdle Sport Tec – and Johnny Mercer MP, in addition to our Local Councillor, Pat Patel for their ongoing support. 

“At the Ted Wragg Trust we believe in strengthening our communities and this is enabling us to do exactly that. We cannot wait to see the children of Marine Academy Primary and Marine Academy Plymouth and the St Budeaux community using this facility.”  

On Thursday evening (30^th November), fourteen KS2 children from Whipton Barton Federation across years 3-6 joined a South West choir of educators and youth choirs representing schools and settings from across the region, and the newly established Teachers Rock® Academy Choir.

Teachers Rock is a choir made up teachers and their students aged from 7-70 with a mission to inspire, develop and educate young people. The choir has recently been performing in the most famous recording studio in the world, London Abby Road Studios. On Thursday and Friday, they celebrated this trip with performances in Exeter Cathedral and on the Thursday were joined by pupils from Whipton Barton for a magical evening of singing.

Louise Moretta, Headteacher at Whipton Barton Federation said “I am so proud of all the children who took part, they performed so beautifully and thoroughly enjoyed this enriching experience of performing to a large audience and in such a beautiful setting.”

Moria Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said “It is amazing for our young people to have this opportunity to perform at Exeter Cathedral with so many others from across the region. We know they will get so much from this positive and collaborative experience and the children and staff involved are already looking forward to next year."

Teachers Rock commented; “Ted Wragg Trust thank you for your support! It was a true pleasure to welcome and work with Whipton Barton Federation. Their enjoyment and happiness whilst singing was a delight to see.”