By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on June 29, 2018
DESPITE the footy, netball and soccer seasons being in full swing at the moment, cricket is the sport of choice for Mount Lockyer Primary students after a gleaming new double cricket net and pitch was installed recently.
The school was the only one in Albany that did not previously have cricket nets, so the rate at which students have traded drop punts and torpedoes for sixes and wrong ‘uns has astounded staff and parents.
P&C Fundraising Coordinator Karen Southall still can’t believe the soaring popularity of the game considering Albany couldn’t be further from summer.
She said the sport has positively influenced student behaviour in both the classroom and the playground, and has encouraged large amounts of girls and boys to give the game a go.
“The uptake of cricket at the school since the new nets has been phenomenal,” she said.
“There’s certainly been an increase in kids’ activity during recess and lunch and we’ve seen a lot more sharing and cooperating in the classroom.
“Sharing in a sport like cricket allows kids who don’t always play together to commingle and it builds their confidence.”
Deputy principal Paul Hockey said the $30,000 project was made possible by a combination of school money, P&C fundraising and a state government grant.
“When you’ve got a school of 570 kids, you need a variety of activities for kids to do,” he said.
“The nets were really an initiative by the P&C, so it just goes to show how much the P&C gives back to the school.”
Under the same State Government school funding project, Flinders Park Primary received a new stage in the assembly hall, Bremer Bay Primary’s school oval received improved drainage and Jerramungup District High installed a new nature playground.
