Children and Young People

Opening Schools Facilities

Encouraging schools to open their facilities to benefit the public

Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) is a Department for Education investment programme to meet the goals of the Government’s School Sport and Activity Action Plan.

The aim is to help schools to open their existing sport facilities, including school swimming pools, for a broader range of young people, and to support the wider community by partnering with sporting organisations, who can help deliver activities in these settings.

Schools can access a range of support through the programme, enabling them to purchase additional sports equipment (non-fixed items only), as well helping improve accessibility to school sport facilities and providing funding for short-term staffing challenges.

The funding stream is led by the national network of Active Partnerships and is supported by ukactive, StreetGames and the Youth Sport Trust. The hope is that all 9 regions across the country will benefit from the scheme and that more schools will be able to open their facilities outside of a normal school day. This will allow children and young people and the wider community to access more opportunities to be more physically active.

Who’s it for?

Schools in Essex looking to support their community

Prime Objective:

to open facilities to young people and the wider community

Second Objective:

to identify long-term changes in behaviour, increasing activity

Thanks to Essex's approach to the Opening Schools Facilities initiative, hub teams at Active Essex were able to build relationships with schools and add value to local place partnership work. Active Essex took a targeted approach to ensure that area’s in greater need of funding, were able to access it.

Tree Tops Free School in Thurrock have benefitted from the funding, by purchasing various gym equipment as well as basketball hoops, football goals and netball baskets, for the wider community to utilise. Using the gym equipment, they have been able to invite a specialist trainer to help teach crossfit.

schools were funded in year 2 of the project

48%

of schools funded in year 1 were in IMD areas 1-3

projects in year 1 were swimming pool focussed

It’s great having the new equipment as it allows people in the local community of all ages and all fitness levels, to access more physical activity opportunities for a lower cost, and in a welcoming, non-judgemental environment. Watching the specialist netball group utilise the nets, shows us how worthwhile and important accessing the funding was for the school and our community.

Anthony Hattam, Headteacher Treetops Free School

Key Learnings

It's important to take time to reflect and understand the learnings from work undertaken, in order to focus on ways to improve in the future.

Impact of timings

Yr 1 late launch stretched capacity and didn’t offer schools adequate planning time.

Underspend

Only 3 weeks of delivery costs were able to be claimed in yr 1 and no roll over of underspend.

Over-estimation

Schools overestimated costs with over £100,000 not claimed against planned delivery.