The “Use Our School” initiative from Sport England supports schools in opening their facilities to the community by providing solutions, real-life practice, tips, and downloadable resources. The programme aims to help schools open up their facilities to their local communities.
Hull has recently celebrated the success of the Department for Education (DfE) funded Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) programme during a visit to two schools in Hull. The partnership with Active Humber focused on the positive impact of the OSF funding for young people in Hull, particularly in providing a diverse range of sporting opportunities through Doorstep Sport.
The programme emphasises the importance of making sporting offers available to all, and the visit aimed to promote youth voice and break down barriers to sports participation. The OSF funding has played a crucial role in this initiative, and the visit highlighted the significant impact of the projects on young people in the area.
Participant school, Sirius Academy North greeted Beverley Southward, a Policy Officer for the DfE, sharing the insights she had from the visit. She particularly highlighted the barriers that children had engaging in sport and physical activity in their local areas and how important utilising available space for any activity.
Facing the same barriers at your school?
The benefits of this programme are endless, from providing a new source of revenue for your school to offering enrichment activities and school-community-building exercises for parents and children. As an activities provider, our PE managers can help you navigate these resources and provide an array of activities that get the best out of your school.
