Dixons Cricket Academy

At Dixons, joy is a fundamental strand in our approach to education, and we have been working hard to define what joy looks like. We see it in our students' appetite for learning and in their drive to pursue passions outside of the classroom. It is part of our intentional design to ensure opportunities that bring joy are amplified across our trust and to ensure they are broad and accessible.

That is one of the reasons we are setting up Dixons Cricket Academy, a flagship initiative to challenge educational and social disadvantage through widening the access to elite sport.

With the recruitment of our new head of cricket, Maroof Khan, a former professional cricketer with a global playing and coaching footprint, we now ready to launch this academy.

Our mission

Through this work, we want to:

• pioneer a new cricketing future in the state sector by building an outstanding multi-sited academy across our four cities: Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool and Greater Manchester
• provide life changing opportunities to high-potential cricketers from low-income families – explicitly matching opportunities usually only available in the independent sector

As a trust, we work exclusively in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. We want to open the doors that have historically been closed to students in our communities.

Our programme

We are now building a programme with a three-tiered approach that spans participation, performance and pathway:

Participation and engagement

Using cricket as a tool to re-engage disaffected students, building confidence and belonging through sport.

Competitive school cricket

Establishing school sides and entering competitions to give students the thrill of representative fixtures.

The elite pathway

Identifying high-potential cricketers from low-income families and providing them with the elite coaching, facilities, and opportunities typically only available in the private sector.

Our program is underpinned by a concrete admissions offer: we will protect 10% of places at three of our secondary schools for high-potential cricketers from low-income families. This is a concrete commitment – not a gesture. It's a promise to our students, our families, and our cities.

Next steps 

We have an ambitious strategy to deliver and we look forward to working with our communities to do so. Over the coming months, we will be focused on a number of key strands of this work:

Upcoming launch events and talent ID days

• We will shortly be announcing our first wave of trials, taster sessions and school-based talent education and scouting across our trust. 

Partnerships and community engagement

• We are actively building relationships with professional clubs, community organisations and local cricket networks and would be interested in hearing from organisations who would like to find out more.

Program expansion

• We will roll out coaching best practices for our PE staff, develop and train our players and have competitive fixtures and outreach sessions and match play calendar.

For more information or if you would like to support our work, please contact us: info@dixonsat.com