Newcastle-under-Lyme School creating pathway from juniors through to 1st XI

Head of Boys Sport, Matt Dixon, along with former Northants & Notts spinner, Jason Brown, are 'laying foundations for a whole-school approach'

With around 16 teams across the year groups and an ever-expanding girls' programme, Matt Dixon, could have been forgiven for focusing all of his attention on the senior pupils at Newcastle-under-Lyme School in his first year in charge.   

However, together with former Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire spinner Jason Brown, he is laying the foundations for a whole-school approach to cricket and putting in place a pathway from the infant department of the prep school right the way through to the 1st XI.  

"In the past it’s been almost two sites, two schools, but there's a push to develop a one school mindset," explains Dixon, who replaced Ben Gibbons as director of cricket in September 2021. "Pupils are now using facilities across both sites, and we've changed our outlook towards timetabling and provisions to allow us to have more time in the prep school and run training session from Year 1 up to Year 6." 

Similar to the ECB's All Stars programme, the emphasis for the younger pupils remains on physical literacy while by Year 5 and 6, both boys and girls are regularly playing cricket throughout the summer term. However, Dixon's approach isn't talent driven. Instead, he hopes early exposure to the sport will enable more pupils to fall in love with it and remove some of the barriers to participation.  

^{Newcastle-under-Lyme School in action (Supplied)}

"I'm very much of the mindset that you should play as many sports as you can until as old as you can," he says. "In Year 1 and 2, it’s predominantly getting them active and using cricket as a tool to teach that. We start to ramp it up in Year 3 and Year 4, learning those core basic skills through kwik cricket. By Year 5 and 6, it mirrors quite closely what we do with the Year 7s - they play softball cricket and we’ve had some great success with our Year 6 team in the age-group cup.  

"From a performance perspective it's great because they've had the opportunity to train and play more, but it also gives them exposure and might become something they want to get more involved in, even if only as a summer sport. We're from an area with a lot of cricket clubs, so there's a lot of interest from the pupils and the sheer numbers who are taking up the game both in and out of school is a really good barometer. 

"Having this exposure and experience of playing cricket is great for their development and confidence, and coming onto hardball becomes a more natural pathway. The more we can introduce it slowly and over time, the kids can build up their confidence to do it and are more likely to continue [with cricket] into the senior school. If you haven’t had that exposure, it can be quite daunting and a scary experience. We don’t want pupils to turn up for the first time in Year 7 and think, 'This isn’t for me'. 

"And we're lucky that we've got a lot of girls lower down the school who are keen. They’re really positive and it’s becoming natural for them that cricket is one of their major sports alongside traditional sports like netball and hockey. It's good to see it becoming the norm." 

With an overseas pre-season tour and a 1st XI outing to Chester for a round robin tournament with Stockport Grammar and King's Chester in July already permanent fixtures on the senior school's sporting calendar, Dixon also hopes to add a junior tour for Year 6 pupils in the not too distant future: "It would add that extra buy in to cricket and be a really nice way to finish their time at prep school." 

^{Through the covers (Supplied)}

But his focus on participation – part of his initial three-year plan, however, doesn't stop at the prep school; he sees areas for improvement and huge potential across the whole school. Positive initiatives are already in place. In boys cricket, for example, the winter programme offers two strands – technical, skills-based sessions and open sessions – to ensure every pupil can continue to play and develop their game regardless of ability. However, while there are "ample opportunities" for everyone – boys and girls – to play in the summer, he hopes to increase the amount of recreational cricket in the winter months, possibly through small-sided indoor tournaments.

"It's an interesting question," he replies when asked about the end goal of his three-year plan. "The goalposts are always moving, so in a year my answer would change. But the aim is to get as many pupils involved in cricket as possible.  

"[The standout moment] for me this year would be the number of pupils we've had involved in cricket and playing fixtures, regardless of ability of experience. Having everyone back playing cricket and coming up to me saying, 'Sir, I took two wickets' or 'I took a catch' – that's the side of teaching and coaching that gives me the most pleasure.  

"If we can sit here in summer term and we've got 75 per cent of boys and girls playing cricket and really enjoying it, that's fantastic. If in winter there's a real buzz about cricket and the summer ahead, and then you get to summer and in and around school everyone is talking about fixtures and tournaments, and there's a buzz to be involved – whether it's a Year 4 pupils or a 1st XI cricketer, that's the stage we'd like to get to. 

"I'd like cricket to become a cultural positive experience that is interlinked with the ethos of the school and if you were to turn up to our school, you would get a sense that there are lots of people who love cricket."  

The Cricketer would like to thank Durant Cricket for their ongoing support of our schools cricket coverage. For more on Durant Cricket, including booking a site visit, please click here

Related Topics

• MCC reinstate Eton v Harrow and Varsity Lord's fixtures after member pressure
• Stephen Fry backs removal of Eton v Harrow fixture ahead of MCC member vote
• Framlingham College breaking down barriers through mixed teams and participation