Discover Spratton Hall, a school that combines academic and sporting success - Open Morning 4th October
Sporting success like Toby’s, as well as other extra-curricular activity, go hand in hand with academic achievement, and you are invited to learn more.
Northampton Saints Academy player and former Spratton Hall School pupil, Toby Cousins has recently returned from a victorious tour in South Africa as part of the England U20 squad, and has been considering the value that the sport he played at school has had on his career.
Having started playing at age five, he developed a passion for all sport, especially rugby, during his time at Spratton Hall, where he received expert coaching from Gareth Barnard, now the school’s Director of Sport. At twelve he joined the Saints Academy, followed by a sports scholarship to Oakham School. His advice to other young people is ‘to play as many sports as possible and give everything 100%’.
Sporting value
The value of regularly playing sport in school cannot be underestimated and at Spratton Hall, pupils get to play up to ten different sports a year including rugby, hockey, netball, cricket (the school has been rated as one of the top 50 cricketing prep schools for the last 5 years), tennis, cross-country, athletics, gymnastics, badminton and basketball, in addition to their regular PE lessons. The benefits of being able to incorporate so much exercise into the school day are plentiful, with the pupils enjoying improved fitness and mental wellbeing, as well as learning critical soft skills such as the importance of teamwork and developing a competitive but gracious attitude.
Spratton Hall benefits from 50 beautiful acres of sporting facilities, which even in the relatively short time since Toby left, the school have continued to develop, to – now include the following:
– Floodlit AstroTurf
– 7 Netball Courts
– 9 Tennis Courts
– 400m Running Track
– Cross Country Course
– 12 Cricket Pitches
– 8 Cricket Nets
– Indoor Sports Dome
– Multiple hockey and rugby pitches
– State-of-the-art changing facilities.
This ensures that sport forms a core part of the school’s curriculum, with the dedicated Heads of Girls’ Games, Boys’ Games and PE, constantly striving to ensure that the extensive team of coaches is able to share the most up-to-date rules, skills and tactics with their teams. Mr Barnard believes that ‘at Spratton Hall, sport is for all, and the wide variety that we offer means pupils can take part in multiple sports to help them discover where their talents and passions lie. Every pupil at every level will play for a school team, enabling them to build their confidence and love of sport. Like Toby, many pupils will also play sport outside of school and will go on to represent their county, or even country, in their chosen sport.’
Go a long way
Now a Six Nations and World Champion, Toby has come a long way since his time at Spratton Hall, with his proudest moments being: helping the Saints U18 team win the North league, receiving his first England shirt, scoring in his debut against France and of course the recent tour of South Africa. Ask him about his worst moments, and without hesitation, he would say ‘the ice baths!’
The best of luck to Toby and all the academy players, who will also be joined by another former Spratton Hall pupil, Thomas Church, for the ‘24-’25 season.
Spratton Hall will be having an Open Morning on Friday the 4th October, to book your place or find out more, visit www.sprattonhall.com.