Active Suffolk delighted to attend official opening of Rougham Church of England Primary School swimming pool after supporting with much needed funding opportunity

In the summer of 2021, after having a fully functioning swimming pool for over 50 years since its original installation, Rougham Church of England Primary School in West Suffolk found that their swimming pool had begun to leak vast amounts of water. This meant that they could no longer heat it effectively or keep it maintained in a way that was adequate enough to be used by those that wanted to swim in it. Recognising that this meant that the pool was no longer viable to stay open, the school had to unfortunately close off the pool to their pupils and the local community.

During the beginning of 2022, the school began an incredibly admirable fundraising effort, getting their pupils, parents and families of pupils, staff and the local community involved in their activities. From running tremendous events such as charity car washes, race nights and their very own family fun day called 'fund fest', the school was able to raise just over £30,000. However, with their target being the £50,000 required to complete all the necessary repairs and refurbishment works to the old pool, further funding was needed.

Thankfully, after seeing their fundraising appeal, Active Suffolk contacted the school and were able to facilitate the fantastic opportunity for the school to apply for the remaining vital funding they needed of almost £20,000 from the Opening Schools Facilities Funding.

The Opening Schools Facilities Funding from the Department of Education was created to support schools to open their sporting facilities for their local community and school users outside of the normal school day. Active Suffolk has been working with local stakeholders across the county to identify those communities and people that would benefit from increased access to facilities to help them be more physically active.

Now that the final refurbishments have been made to the pool and it is officially open, the school plan to of course use it for their students to be able to learn the all-important skill of being able to swim. They have also opened it up to the public so that swimming lessons and rental during the school holidays can begin. The pool will once again become an invaluable resource to be used once by the children and local community. Plus, the school is now offering advertising space set around the pool so that they can generate extra revenue that will allow the pool to be maintained effectively for many years to come.

Gareth Davies, Director of Active Suffolk said: "Active Suffolk are delighted to have been able to facilitate the opportunity for Rougham Church of England Primary School to access the crucial final funding they needed to repair and refurbish their swimming pool through the Opening Schools Facilities Funding.

"We at Active Suffolk are acutely aware of many of the barriers and challenges that many schools often face when opening their facilities for community use. However, we know that these barriers are not insurmountable and that the benefits that this school, its pupils, staff, and their wider community will be able to access from this wonderful refurbishment are going to be hugely positive.

"Through the Opening Schools Facilities Fund, we have been able to facilitate the opportunity for eleven schools across Suffolk to apply and get access to the necessary funding they need to proceed with their brilliant projects. These projects will allow schools to open their sporting facilities to those in their local community and other school users outside of the general school day. This means that not only will their local community be benefitting from existing, well-managed spaces but that these schools will be able to generate extra income to invest in further benefitting their children and young people."

The swimming pool has been such an important part of life at Rougham Primary for the last 50 years. Hundreds of children have learned to swim here and it's always been a hub for families to come together and enjoy over the summer months. We have been overwhelmed by the support we've received from parents, the wider community and Active Suffolk. It goes to show how much the pool is valued locally and we are overjoyed to have hit our goal of having it ready to open again in time for school swimming lessons this year.

To find out more about the opening of the refurbished pool, or to book a private use session of the pool during the school holidays, please go to the school's swimming pool page.