Callywith awarded funding to improve physical activity opportunities

Staff and students at Callywith College are celebrating securing almost £20,000 in grant funding to help develop physical activity opportunities at the College.

Sport England’s ‘Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund’ has funded the College £10,000 to create an outdoor mindfulness exercise trail which will be situated in the grounds. The trail will include outdoor fitness equipment situated at various locations in-between specifically designed trees, flora and fauna and will be designed to create a safe journey through nature to help students and staff become more active and improve their mental health.

A further £8,000 has been secured through the ‘Children in Need’ fund to help the Health, Wellbeing and Sport (HWS) programme to continue working with Student Services to provide opportunities and interventions for young people with mental health challenges by offering support to develop physical activity strategies to help cope with stress and anxiety.

Former A Level student Issac Cude who benefited from the Children in Need fund shared: “I was quite anxious and stressed to start my A Levels and quite low and insecure as a person and I found it very difficult to get to grips with who I was as person."

“In the College gym, I felt relaxed and good about myself, that I’m exercising because I’m looking after myself. It’s also about going there to feel positive, that you’ve pushed yourself, that you’ve tried, setting yourself goals and mentally achieving them."

“The College has given me the encouragement to actively look after myself and I feel like I’m taking responsibility for myself as a person and that’s something I would have likely ignored last year. Children in Need are helping people in a really difficult situation, it’s helping us with our development, with confidence and self-identity, it’s just brilliant.”

Callywith Active Lead, Julian Wills, said: “We are delighted to have secured both funding streams. It’s great recognition of the College’s vision, ambition, and commitment in terms of using physical activity to change people’s lives."

We offer a full timetable of sport academies and physical activities for students and staff including men and women’s football, rugby, table tennis, badminton, as well as fitness and strength and conditioning sessions in our state-of-the-art gym in Fox Building. Our Summer Health, Wellbeing & Sport (HWS) timetable and more information on academies, can be found here