I have made some progress and changes to the format, since posting the original idea. I've setup a website www.primaryschooltennis.co.uk and agreed with two venues to host a qualifying event (Harlow in Essex and Hills Road in Cambridge). I need to find 6 more venues (2 full size indoor courts minimum) dotted in and around London, they could be sports centres rather than tennis venues because I can setup up the courts. Then I also need to find a central-ish London venue for the final.

For this academic year I will just have a South East England event and if it all goes well I will role out nationally next year.

Queensland is a real tennis school and lots of good players are schooled there

www.queenswood.org/Queenswood-Tennis-Team-taking-the-World-Championship-by-storm

I think it was for the younger players as there are a couple of older girls that went to Queensland who weren't in the team - Ema Lazic and Olivia Pest spring to mind.

Queenswood is very impressive as are its resources but that's what you get for 25K a year. I presume the tournament is for state primaries?

Yes I think you are right, Reeds would be the equivalent, ugh, although again at the best part of 30k a year it pains me a bit to say I think that is part of the problem in terms of making school tennis in anyway relevant to growing the game.

In spite of being politically left of centre, I now have nothing against private education per sae or the fantastic facilities on offer, despite, I confess, a Dianne Abott type evolution of thought in this view.

I feel we are all entitled to spend the money we earner, after tax, in any way we wish and given each 30k spent giving a child a fantastic education is 5-6k the government don't have to pay on educating that child, and the government has also in the balance of probabilities taken another 30k in the income tax paid by the individual paying the fees, a pretty good deal all round for the state.

Having qualified myself, such private school pupils are irrelevant really to growing the game (although their facilities bloody handy!). If they focus on tennis, they will do very well, most private schools don't and with scholarships thrown in for tennis (again most private schools would rather spend it on a prop!) to mop up some state school talent generated by parents investing everything in coaching outside of school to fulfill a dream it is a relatively easy way to raise their profile and attract "the right type" of parent.

A national competition for primary schools is a fantastic initiative!!!! WELL DONE

BUT the local regional tournaments by borough are the most important, and indeed the younger the better! Really young year 2 and 3!!

Hopefully the schools will then scrape around to get any year 2 or 3 who shows a natural inclination to hit a red ball to play. By as early as year 4 even the kids coached out of school will dominate from the off, limiting the opportunity to draw athletic kids in.