Posted on: Friday 28 March 2025
Nearly £4m has been invested in a range of new sports facilities at Abersychan School.
Work on a new £2.2m 3G pitch is complete and it will be handed over to the school on Monday for pupils to use.
The facility, which includes a 3G pitch built to the World Rugby and FIFA standards, floodlights and a spectator stand, will be available for community hire from April.
Work is also being done to transform the old leisure centre on the site with a refurbished sports hall and changing rooms, a purpose-built dance studio, all of which will be available for community hire through the school.
As part of the project, the school's Additional Learning Needs resource base is being relocated into a refurbished building.
Refurnished netball courts completed last year will also become available for hire.
Headteacher Rhodri Thomas said: “The Abersychan Learning Resource Base will secure a learning environment which will support the students who access this provision to meet their potential and thrive.
"Sport is huge at Abersychan School. Students will be in their element whilst enjoying the state-of-the-art facilities during lessons and through an extensive extra-curricular programme.
"The school will become a central hub for the locality as we make the facilities available to the wider community after the Easter break.”
Cllr Richard Clark, Executive Member for Children, Families and Education, said: "These facilities will not only benefit the pupils at Abersychan School but also children and adults who play for local football, and rugby clubs or are part of other sports clubs. I hope they will inspire a lifelong love of health, exercise and sport.”
There are around 800 pupils at the school with an estimated 26 football clubs and 24 rugby clubs in the north of the borough.
The new 3G pitch has been funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and FAW Cymru Football Foundation.
It is one of three new 3G pitches in the borough alongside a new 3G pitch at Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw, which opened in Autumn 2024 and a pitch in Llantarnam which is due to be completed in the spring.
The new dance studio, sports hall, changing rooms and ALN base have been funded by a combination of UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund and the Welsh Government’s ALN grant. The new netball courts were paid for by the Welsh Government's Community Focused Schools fund.