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Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

December 5, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface: After intensive in-house operations to relieve severe compaction failed to deliver the desired results, the decision was made to undertake a full renovation on one of the pitches at Hove Prep School in Sussex. Word of mouth led Grounds and Gardens Manager Adam Bedson to speak with AMS […]

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

December 4, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Admin

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion: There is a proposed new Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager Apprenticeship on the horizon with the option of including a Sports Turf Foundation Degree. What are your thoughts on this? In October 2023, a new Level 3 Advanced Sports Turf Technician Apprenticeship was made available […]

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

December 5, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

December 4, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Admin

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Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

December 5, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface: After intensive in-house operations to relieve severe compaction failed to deliver the desired results, the decision was made to undertake a full renovation on one of the pitches at Hove Prep School in Sussex.

Word of mouth led Grounds and Gardens Manager Adam Bedson to speak with AMS Contracting Ltd who he cites, from the outset, delivered outstanding customer service and confidence in their capability to fix the situation to the standards required – which they did, to the satisfaction of the school and pupils alike!

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

Hove Prep School is one of three sites belonging to Lancing College, with its own sports facilities supporting a packed programme of year-round play and coaching. “It became evident that years of overuse had contributed to severe compaction problems that became almost impossible to recover” explains Adam, who has been at the college since 2019. “Kit we hired failed to rectify the problem so we reached out to Ashley and Myles Strange at AMS who immediately put us at ease.”

“Having not conducted a project of this scale for a good number of years the Bursar naturally had a lot of questions, which the AMS team answered in-depth and in a timely manner. The level of care and knowledge shown definitely helped to secure the funding we needed to get the project underway in the summer of 2023.”

The full pitch renovation included surface removal, soil profile upgrade, laser-levelling, seeding and nutritional programme, conducted by a team of four operatives under the guidance of Ashley and Myles. “We felt in safe hands every step of the way. What really stood out for me was the hours the team were prepared to work – on site from sunrise and non-stop until the early evening. They understood our need to get the work, which also included renovating our cricket square, complete in the window available in order to get the surfaces back into play as quickly as possible.”

The results, Adam says, speak for themselves. “Within seven days we went from a sandy field to seeing the green hue of germination. Since then, we’ve nurtured the pitch to full strength and coverage and the pupils are now enjoying playing on it.” He continues, “This wet start to winter has also highlighted how incredibly well the pitch drains now. Within an hour of the rain stopping, the pitch is playable which was previously unheard of.”

“The sports staff are over the moon and everybody is really invested in protecting the asset we now have. The success of this project signals the start of a fantastic partnership between ourselves and AMS Contracting, and we’re already in touch with the team about what’s next!”

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The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

December 4, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Admin

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion: There is a proposed new Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager Apprenticeship on the horizon with the option of including a Sports Turf Foundation Degree. What are your thoughts on this?

In October 2023, a new Level 3 Advanced Sports Turf Technician Apprenticeship was made available (for details please see Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IFATE) website). This new progression route builds on the Level 2 Sports Turf Operatives or Level 2 Greenkeeping and/or supports those seeking to develop their supervisory skills, knowledge and behaviours in sports turf.

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

Based on the role and duties of a sports turf manager, IFATE have now recognised that a continued progression route to a higher level 5 apprenticeship qualification in sports turf may be needed.

To ascertain the taught knowledge, skills and behaviours for a level 5 sports turf manager, a new survey is now available to canvas industry opinion. If you have a vested interest in sports turf, sports turf operatives (groundstaff/groundskeepers) and general management of sports turf (e.g. any sport that uses a predominantly natural grass surface), then please complete the survey

Survey: https://forms.office.com/e/iYyA7Y3L06

Further to this, the survey is seeking opinion for utilising an existing level 5 university sports turf qualification as an educational programme towards achieving a level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager apprenticeship. Specifically, utilising a ‘Foundation Degree in Sports Turf Management’.

Why a Foundation Degree? The newly developed recommended ‘Duties’ of a level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager indicated a role that is based on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The Foundation Degree in Sports Turf is a longstanding STEM-based higher education sports turf qualification. The existence of the FD is potentially readymade to meet this need. Over 200 sports turf professionals have completed the FD since 2013 and just over 50 have progressed further and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with honours (BSc. Hons). It appears to be a successful qualification for technical sports turf professionals, however there may be barriers preventing more individuals from achieving this qualification, namely university tuition fees.

Why Apprenticeships? Completion of a formal apprenticeship is a recognised qualification that confirms that an individual has completed at least a year of training and education and has sat an independently assessed and regulated examination, known as an End-Point Assessment. Arguably, the UK Government values Apprenticeships and generates funding to incentivise and meet the costs of this training for employers.

If the turf industry is of the opinion that the Foundation Degree in Sports Turf Management has a valuable part of Level 5 Apprenticeship for Sports Turf, then there is a good case to include this qualification.

How much will it cost? In summary, a Level 5 apprentice’s employer could access about a 95-100% reduction in the fees. An apprentice would have no fee. An employer would need to facilitate an average of six hours a week for an apprentice’s off-the-job training.

Please complete the survey if you would like to contribute on the future of sports turf education and training for higher level apprenticeships

Survey: https://forms.office.com/e/iYyA7Y3L06

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface

Outstanding Service leads to an Outstanding Surface: After intensive in-house operations to relieve severe compaction failed to deliver the desired results, the decision was made to undertake a full renovation on one of the pitches at Hove Prep School in Sussex.

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion: There is a proposed new Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager Apprenticeship on the horizon with the option of including a Sports Turf Foundation Degree. What are your thoughts on this?

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