We were very pleased to award our first grant of 2021 to Goffs for two indoor table tennis tables. As Kevin Yardley’s (Director of Income Generation) apprentice, Courtney Caswell, explained:
“The equipment purchased will benefit all the students at the school as well as the children who attend the classes that are run by our external hirers.
I feel as though the students would love the opportunity to have more access to play table tennis as currently, we only have 1 table that is a year old and 2 that are not such high quality as they are older.”
Kevin went on to give some more arguments for the need for the new tables:
"Table Tennis is very much part of the curriculum at Goffs Academy for KS3 and KS4, we also offer extracurricular lunchtime and after school clubs. Unfortunately, none of this provision is as good as it could be due to the poor quality of the tables used.
We are currently offering table tennis as part of the provision of activities for Key Worker children and vulnerable children attending school in lockdown, it’s a very popular option with queues for the few tables in good condition.”
The new tables would also benefit young people in the community and bring some income into the school:
“We currently host Herts Regional College Table Tennis Club once a week for a club night. They are very interested in expanding this to include 2 more evenings a week which would include league matches, unfortunately the number of high-quality tables prevents us from supporting this at the moment as well as limiting the numbers who can attend their club sessions.”