Children and Young People

Upshire Primary School - Opening Schools Facilities (OSF)

Increasing physical activity through sport and infrastructure development.

Upshire Primary School, located in Epping Forest, has embarked on a project to not only enhance after school provision for their students but to also create a welcoming and safe environment for the community to use after school hours.

hanks to the first year of the Department for Education (DfE) Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) funding, Upshire Primary School has expanded its football club to include KS1 students and introduced a new Archery club. These additions have provided more opportunities for students, particularly girls, to participate in extracurricular activities. Additionally, the funding has been used to improve the school's infrastructure, including automating the main gates. This enhancement will enable external users to access the school grounds outside of regular hours, minimizing the need for additional school staff, thereby increasing opportunities for students, their families, and the local community.

Who's it for?

School students, their families and the wider community

Prime Objective:

to provide sport and physical activity opportunities

Second Objective:

make the school site more accessible to community groups

The Archery club is open to all ages at the school, offering 15 spaces which are currently filled by 4 girls and 10 boys. The KS1 football club has 20 spaces available which are currently taken up by 5 girls and 11 male students.

The Opening Schools Facilities Funding has helped strengthen connections amongst Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) and Active Essex. This collaboration has worked to improve students' and local residents' health and wellbeing. By opening up school facilities for community use, the initiative will help to foster stronger community ties, enable community groups to grow with access to new space and enhanced physical and mental wellbeing for the community to access out of school hours.

£24,495

awarded in total across the three years of funding

243

recorded attendances by 29 school students

Throughout the application and delivery process, Active Essex has worked with the primary school to help bring their aims and ideas to life. Upshire Primary School have also been working closely with their main sports provider Super Star Sports, who are keen to offer holiday activities, but the facility has not been suitable for a safe and accessible service. Thanks to the funding, the school can now explore how they can help with the health and wellbeing challenges that their pupils face in the ward.

The after-school sessions have been absolutely fantastic. It has enabled me to work for longer. For my daughter Maddie, it has been great for her to get some extra fitness in.

Parent of child that attends the Archery club

The Upshire Primary School Community Initiative has successfully increased physical activity opportunities for students, strengthened community ties, provided a safe environment that the community can benefit from.

We have improved our approach to designing clubs by involving parents and children more in the process. Instead of imposing our own ideas, we listen to their preferences and needs. We also try to connect with other community groups that share our vision and values, but we recognize that they may face challenges in terms of resources, staff, and capacity. We are thinking ahead about how to make our clubs sustainable and relevant for the future, by creating community links and pathways for further participation. We want to showcase our work to the wider community and demonstrate how we have learned from the local context and how we can contribute to it.

Julie Hockley, Finance and Personnel Manager

Next Case Study:

PCS - Youth Unity