Sport and activity for life

Sport and activity for life

Christ’s Hospital is blessed with some of the best sports facilities in the country. The 250 acres site hosts twenty-one grass pitches, two floodlit all weather pitches, seven netball courts, fifteen tennis courts, ten cricket squares, a swimming pool, a double sports hall, gymnasium, squash courts, fives courts, fitness suite and a dance studio. Work has begun on a new athletics complex which will open in summer 2025.

The facilities at CH lend themselves to high levels of student participation and sporting success. Students are involved in time-tabled sport at least three times a week alongside the sport they participate in as part of our extensive broader curriculum programme.

The school has a long-standing tradition of sporting success, Sussex and England cricketer John Snow is a former student. More recently, rugby players Joe Launchbury (Harlequins & England), Lennox Anyanwu (Harlequins) and cricketer Stuart Whittingham (Sussex CCC and Scotland).

Current students have been selected for the Harlequins academy and the Sussex County Cricket pathway. Students are also playing at county and regional level in hockey and netball. With athletics being a particular strength, a good number of our students represent Sussex every year.

Football is very popular and we regularly have students represent the England Prep School Lions at the famous Gothia Cup in Sweden. Currently one of our students has been selected to attend a ‘Future Lionesses Pathway’ trial.

We regularly produce national champions in Fives with former student Louise Mathias ranked British number one. Another former student Luke Thomson is ranked Europe’s number one for Wall Ball.

Activity for Life

We believe physical activity is vital to a person’s wellbeing. To be physically active depends on feeling confident in an activity setting. Therefore, it’s important to invest in the understanding of body function and movement.

Our Activity for Life programme aims to provide an enjoyable, satisfying and balanced programme, empowering every student with the knowledge and skills needed to make responsible lifestyle choices that positively impact on their health and wellbeing. Our aim is to give students the best opportunities in life by allowing them to develop areas of interest and/or excellence that will stay with them beyond school, thus helping them to engage in lifelong physical activity.

Three key principles

Our Activity for Life programme is based on three key principles

  • developing the CH (SPORT) values;
  • developing an understanding of how to participate and the subsequent benefits of participation; and
  • developing an understanding of how to compete and enhance performance.

All students have an equal opportunity to experience physical activity that emphasises participation, practice, engagement and enjoyment. Our Year 7 students follow a programme that emphasises values and multi-sport development. In Year 8 students we build in learning to compete and in Year 9 we have enhanced skill development with increased competition.

Students experience a carousel of sporting activities in Years 7 and 8, leading to a programme of choice in Year 9 and the introduction of “lifestyle”’ activities. Alongside this, students have one session a week delivered by physical education and sports specialists in the build-up to their participation/performance session on a Saturday.

Three-strand approach

As students progress towards the senior years, the programme develops into a three-strand approach:

  • Lifestyle activities: Cardio-vascular based activities (using our fabulous on-site facilities at Bluecoats Sports) including programmes such as Couch-to-5k.
  • Recreational Sport: Students can opt for new sports or continue with their favourite established sport with a more activity-based approach, such as mixed hockey.
  • Aspirational Sport: The high-quality coaching programme at CH allows those aspirational students to progress to represent the School, as well as compete at county, academy or even national level.

During these senior years, as students evolve within the Activity for Life programme they decide which of the three strands they will gravitate towards. Students can have a hybrid programme i.e. recreational in one sport and aspirational in another. The dedicated and enthusiastic staff at CH work hard to ensure all sessions are student- centred, with the students being engaged cognitively and emotionally as well as physically. Our programme really is Activity for Life.

Sports at CH

“Christ’s Hospital has fantastic sports facilities, sports teachers and coaches plus you have the opportunity to spend time doing more of the sport you most enjoy.”

Related content

Boarding life and weekends

Find out more

Day students

Find out more

Order our prospectus

Our School Prospectus provides an introduction to life at Christ’s Hospital. You can request a printed copy which includes an application form by completing the form and/or you can download a pdf of the prospectus.