HISTORY AND THE CHALLENGE
ACE Queensdown School was formed in 2000 when the school merged with St George’s School. The school is designated as a community special school catering for pupils with behavioural and emotional social difficulties. Although the school is not unique it is seen as a progressive special school. The school has four sites in Brighton catering for pupils from the Brighton and Hove area. Queensdown had identified a need to re-equip its fitness facility and the school was actively seeking quotes from various companies to fulfill its requirements. The school had a limited budget to adhere to and the list of equipment required was quite specific along with a requirement for training. Sportsafe were asked to supply a quotation to the school for this requirement. Our fitness specialist visited the school to assess the existing facility and to advise on replacement equipment. With the school having a limited budget and restricted space, Sportsafe were able to put together a proposal that would give the school the range of equipment they required which would maximise the available space the school had.
THE SOLUTION
Sportsafe hold extensive stock of cardiovascular and resistance machines and so were able to provide equipment to the schools specifications and timescales. In some cases the equipment exceeded the schools technical specifications.
After discussions with the school regarding the benefits of the various types of equipment and suitability of the equipment for pupil requirements the school opted to award the installation contract to Sportsafe.
After placing the order, Sportsafe were able to supply the equipment to Queensdown School within the budget provided and short lead-time specified by the school. A further requirement of the contract award was to provide training on the equipment. So once our installation team had carried out their part of the work we sent our specialist fitness instructor in to educate staff and users on the correct use of the equipment. The training included health and safety requirements and educating staff on the operation and programming of the equipment to enable them to train others..
THE OUTCOME
Queensdown School now has an modern fitness facility at the site providing pupils and staff with a fitness centre and regime which rivals many other mainstream schools in the area.
The facility offers a challenging fitness regime and a welcome outlet for the enthusiasm and energy that the pupils at the school have. Stephanie Hill, who was heavily involved with the project said, “We are delighted with the equipment and the installation, the training was very good and the feedback received from the users was all very positive”.
Click here to read more – Fitness Flyer – June 2012
