History of Open School Facilities
In January 2020, the government invested £1.5m to support schools across the country to open their sports facilities. This is how the work has progressed in Greater Manchester since then
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In July 2019, the Department for Education, Department for Culture Media and Sport, and Department for Health and Social Care published the School Sport and Activity Action Plan (the Action Plan). The Action Plan identified several priorities, one of which included £1.6 million for a pilot project across 19 Active Partnerships, including GreaterSport, to help schools open their facilities after the school day, at weekends and during school holidays. It aimed to improve the understanding of the current landscape as well as the barriers, solutions and success factors linked to school facility usage.
The initial pilot (phase one) in Greater Manchester began in January 2020 and was focused in four boroughs, opportunities were created but the impact of the pilot was affected by COVID-19 restrictions. The national learning from phase one can be found here.
In February 2021, Sport England announced that Active Partnerships would be able to build on this work with a further £10.1 million investment from the Department for Education. The funding encouraged and supported more schools to open their facilities for after-school, evening, weekend and holiday use.
GreaterSport offered the opportunity for any primary, secondary or specialist schools and worked with local partners in each borough to identify schools and communities with the most need. 87 schools received investment to open or extend their community provision and offer activities for their pupils.
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