Kloof Schools Foundation

Kloof Schools Astro Turf 

  Shared Astro Turf at Kloof Senior Primary
A multi‑use, all‑weather Astro accessible to all four Kloof public schools. Benefits include safer, local practices and fixtures; reduced transport costs and time; and expanded opportunities for physical literacy, teamwork and inclusion. Help us break ground by funding square metres of turf, lighting, fencing, equipment or maintenance.

Project Purpose

Hockey is a sport that is now rarely played on grass. It is a very different game, depending on what surface you play it on. The schools that our Kloof schools compete against either have access to an astro turf for practice and matches, or hire out private school facilities to practice on and upskill their learners to play matches against their opponents. This has meant that our Kloof Schools are becoming less competitive on the hockey field, and we lose a number of learners at various levels in school, to private institutions who have Astro facilities.

KJP currently practice on their small Astro Turf, and play matches at Thomas More and Curro High school.

KSP practice mainly on grass. Their 1st hockey teams have access to the small practice Astro Turf at KHS. The majority of their matches are played at Curro High School, Thomas More,   St Mary’s and Kearsney College.

KHS can practice to an extent on their practice Astro Turf (which is about a quarter of the size of a full hockey pitch), but the majority of their practices are at Queensmead in Durban. They play matches at various private schools around Durban who have Astro Turfs.
 

Together, the schools spend a substantial amount of time and money on travel and rental of external facilities, and we wish to bring our leaners closer to home, and have access to facilities to develop the hockey skills of our learners. It is also fair to say that many learners who are strong hockey players (or even all-round sports players) prefer to attend other schools in the Upper Highway area that have access to their own Astro Turf.
 

This Astro project works well for the Kloof Schools from a usage perspective. The seasons for hockey differ between the Primary Schools and High School level as well as KJP and KSP finishing their school day earlier. As a result the Kloof Schools will ensure maximum usage from the Astro Turf.
 

Each of our Kloof schools has its own facilities development plan specific to its educational and sports requirements, however we have come together to find a way to build an Astro Turf on our KSP Massingham field that will be used by all the Kloof schools.
 

The investment into an Astro Turf is substantial, and apart from it being financially too big for one school to cope with, one school would not use the facilities enough to justify the financial investment. The KSF is the vehicle that we will use to raise funds for the Astro Turf and manage its development and implementation.

Project Requirements

In order to establish an Astro Turf on Massingham Field, we would first require the securing of the property. The community regularly use Massingham field without permission from the school, which in some instances has led to damage or misuse of our property. We would like to secure the property by replacing and improving the current perimeter fencing and by installing a permanent guard house where we could have security available. We also require an electric gate to be installed.
 

Once the premises are secured, there will be space to build an Astro turf in the far corner of the field. This Astro Turf would be water based and have floodlights surrounding it so as to attract Hockey clubs to use the facilities. This would open up the opportunity for the facilities to be used all year round, during the day and in the evening. There would be a noticeable increase in the hockey skills within each school and within our community through the clubs. Most importantly, this would make the four Kloof Schools more attractive to learners who are strong in hockey (and other sports), which will allow the schools to compete more effectively with the private schools in the area.
 

The field already has bathrooms for spectators and participants. There is already a kitchen established on the premises for serving refreshments and providing a tuckshop.
We also believe this development would make our schools more attractive to our community and they would remain passionate about our schools and continue to support our schools.