Opening Schools Facilities Fund
Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) was a 3-year funding programme that ran between 2022 – 2025. The aim was to meet the goals set out by the Government’s School Sport and Activity Action Plan (SSAAP).
This three-year investment was used to ensure that local solutions were sought collaboratively that identified long term changes in behaviour, leading to more people being active in areas that need it the most.
Through OSF, we helped schools open their existing sports facilities for a broader range of young people, and supported the wider community by partnering with sporting organisations who could deliver activities.
This project facilitated a variety of projects, ranging from the development of community hire hubs and swimming pools to the establishment of extracurricular clubs and active travel plans.
These initiatives were particularly targeted at tackling inequalities within groups that were identified as being inactive.
We have witnessed a plethora of innovative projects spring up across the county, and have seen relationships with the schools we work with go from strength to strength.
Projects tackled groups who at less physically active. Provisions focussed specifically on the following groups (some provisions focussed on more than one group):
- SEND – Those with a special educational need or disability (61% of projects)
- Girls (21%)
- EDC – Those from ethnically diverse communities (60%)
- FSM – Those entitled to free school meals (56%)
Of those attending from the four target groups, the vast majority of attendances were from schools within the most deprived areas (IDACI 1-4)
One of the identified target groups at higher risk of inactivity was those in lower socioeconomic communities. Out of those taking part:
- 18 of the 51 schools came from the most deprived areas (IDACI score 1-4)
- 50% of attendances were by CYP who attended schools from the most deprived areas
- 58% of attendances by the community were at schools in the most deprived areas
- 40% of the total sessions delivered were at schoolsin the most deprived areas
80% of schools reported that their projects had helped towards developing a sustainable business model for new and enhanced physical activity.
Collaboration was at the heart of our programme. We engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders in partnership with our schools. We also shared insights and learned from our Active Partnership colleagues across the country.
In Norfolk and the wider region, we took pride in having far surpassed the expectations set for us, both in terms of the number of schools and students we engaged throughout the programme’s .
Through the Opening Schools Facilities campaign, we witnessed a plethora of innovative projects spring up across the county, and have seen relationships with the schools we work with go from strength to strength. This success is a testament to our commitment to promoting physical activity and fostering a culture of health and well-being in our community.
The key goals and values for the programme were as follows:
- Community Integration and Sustainability: We aimed to prioritise projects that not only integrated effectively with their respective communities but also demonstrated potential for sustainability beyond the funding period.
- Knowledge Sharing and Best Practices: We planned to disseminate our learnings from various schools and showcase case studies of exemplary practices. This provided evidence of how schools could optimise their existing resources to enhance their physical activity offerings and facility utilisation.
- Community Use Agreements: We delved into the potential of community use agreements with our partner schools. This exploration helped us to better understand how we could further leverage school facilities for community benefit.
- Collaborative Learning: We brought together our partner schools to facilitate the sharing of learnings and opportunities for the future. This collaborative approach has fostered a culture of shared growth and continuous improvement.
Opening Schools Facilities data by locality
The below cards detail how the programme operated in each locality within Norfolk over the entire three year programme.
