Opening Schools Facilities
Helping schools open their existing sport facilities for a broader range of young people
Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) is a Department for Education (DfE) school funding programme to meet the goals of the Government’s School Sport and Activity Action Plan (SSAAP). 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.
Aims and Objectives
‘Opening school facilities outside of the normal school day to school and community users, to create sustainable change in increased physical activity levels’.
Programme Objectives
- To support schools to open their facilities outside of the normal school day (before school, evenings, weekends, and holidays) to allow children & young people and the wider community to access more opportunities to be physically active.
- To open school swimming pools focusing on swimming and water safety lessons both during and outside the school day for pupils at their school and for pupils at other local schools.
- Participants are provided with a range of stimulating and enjoyable opportunities to take part in physical activity and sport, in addition to that experienced within PE lessons and extra-curricular activities. This means new and additional extra-curricular activities are eligible.
- Participants are signposted to take part in the same or similar activities in their local community, following the end of their participation in the programme.
Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership (HSP) is focusing its efforts on schools that meet one of these target audiences: pupil catchment or within Active Local area, SEND focus, Educational Support Centres (ESC) and women and girls.
Since January 2023, HSP have distributed over £854,000 to 61 different schools working across our key focus audiences, with further schools and funding allocated in our final year of project ending March 2025.
Learn more about National Programme here.
News article summary: Year 2 of OSF in Hertfordshire
Year 2 Report: Year 2 OSF Report in Hertfordshire
Current Projects
- Active Communities
- Active Connections
- Active Environments
- Active Lives
- Active Local
- Active Menopause
- Club Advocate Group
- Club Development
- Coach Education Week
- Crime Reduction through Sport
- Disability Sport Organisations in Hertfordshire
- East of England Mind Sport & Physical Activity Network
- Exercise Referral
- Funding4Sport
- Herts Mini Movers
- junior parkrun
- Live Longer Better in Hertfordshire
- Live Longer Better in Hertfordshire Champions
- Long COVID and Physical Activity
- Movement Fund
- Moving More Activity Finder
- Opening Schools Facilities
- ParkPlay in Herts
- Prenatal and Postnatal Activity
- Sport Welfare
- Summer Parks
- Supporting Sustainable Sport in Hertfordshire
- The Daily Mile
- We Are Undefeatable in Herts
Get in touch…
For further details about Opening Schools Facilities please contact : hspschoolfacilities@herts.ac.uk