Boost for London schools with new government funding to support opening facilities

Schools in London are to benefit from £1m of support to open their facilities to the community outside of the normal school day to allow young people more opportunities to be physical active.

London Sport will distribute grants of up to £10,000 to schools with a high percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals and to provide opportunities for less active pupils or those with special educational needs and disability (SEND) to take part.

Having been part of an initial pilot project, London Sport will use lessons learned throughout the pandemic, and prior to it, to identify the barriers schools face in opening up their premises to the community.

Schools that do not use, or only have limited access to, their school sport facilities outside the school day will be identified with London Sport facilitating co-created solutions alongside students and staff.

Using local providers as well as national governing bodies, London Sport will work with schools to improve access to a high quality and varied offer of physical activity opportunities which meets pupils’ needs.

The Department for Education is providing £10.1m of investment across the Active Partnerships network in England before the end of this month with schools set to benefit ahead of the 2021/22 academic year.

Gary Palmer, Specialist Advisor for Children and Young People, said:

“We want schools, at a time when it is safe, to welcome community sports organisations onto their sites to help reactivate young people’s interest in sport and physical activity.

“Schools can provide much-needed safe and recognisable spaces for children to be active in during those difficult times, evenings and weekends, when they may feel like they’ve nothing to do.

“It is vital that we listen to the young people in the schools and co-create solutions with them so that the activities on offer meet their needs and expectations.

“We’ve already enjoyed real successes with schools in 2020 during the pilot project and look forward to working closely alongside even more schools in the coming months ahead of the new academic year.”

Note: This will not be an open fund. 

Grants will be targeted into specific communities with schools also receiving support and guidance from London Sport throughout the programme. For more information, email schoolsaccess@londonsport.org.