Nunthorpe Academy hopes to improve further with the help of Wish Sport tokens

A Middlesbrough school celebrating its 50th anniversary is hoping to continue helping its students stay involved in sports.

The sports faculty at Nunthorpe Academy has joined the Wish Sport campaign for the first time with the aim of funding up-to-date equipment.

The academy is set to welcome 1,500 new students for the next academic year.

Having recently been graded “outstanding” by education watchdog Ofsted, staff at the faculty are hoping to improve their standards even further.

Jess Bancroft, one of the 12 members of staff at the sports faculty, said: “The faculty would benefit immensely from a share of the money.

“The money would not just improve our faculty, it would also benefit the local community who use our facilities for learning and leisure courses.”

Students at the academy are aged between 11 and 19.

New equipment bought would include balls, bats, nets, posts, mats and team kits.

View gallery

Nunthorpe Academy pupils in bid for Wish Sport tokens

View gallery

Each year, The Gazette teams up with Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, which provides £30,000 to share between not-for-profit sports groups across Teesside.

A personal patron of the Philanthropic Foundation, Simon Scotchbrook, said: “I’m delighted the Gazette and the Philanthropic Foundation have joined forces on Wish Sport because they are two community icons that constantly strive to make Teesside a better place to live, work and play.

“Projects like that are the very reason why I became a patron of the foundation.

“I’m sure the money will be a massive boost for many of the sporting organisations that take part, so I hope record numbers apply for the £30,000 funding this year.”

Tokens are printed in The Gazette every day from Monday, July 7, for groups to start collecting.

The more tokens that a group collects, the greater the share of the prize pot.

This year’s campaign also comes with a twist.

All tokens collected will be worth a share of £25,000. The remaining £5,000 will be awarded during two Wish Sport online bonus days.

All registered groups will be given the chance to win a share of the additional prize pot on each of the bonus days.

The four groups that receive the most readers’ votes on http://ift.tt/1md60Qe will win.