Students at Shrewsbury College can look forward to better opportunities to get involved in sport thanks to £55,000 of National Lottery investment from Sport England’s Further Education Activation Fund.

The college is one of 62 projects at further education and sixth form colleges across England to benefit from £4 million of funding to help get 59,000 new students playing sport.

Shrewsbury College applied for the funding for its project ‘Sport for Choice’ and will revamp its sporting activities after consulting over 800 students to find out what would encourage them to play more sport. The project aims to increase cross-College participation and links to the community. The College is increasing its existing sport provision and introducing new sports to encourage students who don’t currently participate to get involved. Sports such as archery, rock climbing and American Football as well as increasing existing sports such as girl’s football and netball and the College will offer fitness sessions and chances to join clubs from September 2015.

Sam Heseltine, Sport Lecturer at the College who put the bid together said: “This Lottery funding means we can provide an inclusive programme for all college students. Having listened to the ‘students voice’ we can now offer them access to sport-specific coaches in a broad range of activities, inspiring them to start and enjoy sport and increase their level of activity.

“We believe our project will improve the health and well-being of our students, raising their aspirations and their quality of life in college.”

Further education college students’ play the least sport of young people aged 16 and over who are in education. Sport England’s Active People Survey shows that around 65 per cent of school pupils aged 16 and over do sport at least once a week, compared to 53 per cent of higher education students and 50 per cent of further education students. Sport England’s Further Education Activation Fund aims to boost the number of students taking part in sport by supporting colleges to design and develop projects tailored to the sporting needs of their students.

Sport England Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Our investment in further education and sixth form colleges is vital if we are to get more young people playing sport. By investing in Shrewsbury College we’re helping to make sport more accessible, more attractive and more convenient to young people as they move on from school to college.”

Over two rounds of funding, 115 colleges have benefitted from £6.5 million of investment. As well as giving students the chance to play sport, the funding is also enabling a number of colleges to work together more closely, sharing facilities and expertise. It is also supporting the work of the 153 College Sport Makers, recruited through £17 million of investment from Sport England, who help market sports opportunities as well as linking colleges with community sports clubs, running leagues and sports groups and offering coaching for certain sports at their further education college.

For more information on Sports courses including the new Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching and Physical Education at Shrewsbury College, please call Course Advice on 01743 3423411 visit www.shrewsbury.ac.uk