The Department for Education has committed £10.1m to support schools in England to open their facilities outside of the normal school day (evenings, weekends, and holidays) to allow young people more opportunities to participate in extra-curricular physical activity and sporting opportunities.

RISE’s role is to provide support and investment to schools to help deliver after-school provision to help young people reconnect, recover and return to play.

Grants of up to £10,000 are available to support schools to:

• develop extracurricular opportunities and community links for children and young people

• open and re-open their facilities to the local community.

This funding has also been specifically designed to target children and young people hit hardest by COVID-19 in terms of their physical activity levels. Therefore, we will be focusing on:

• those schools with 24% or above of pupils on Free School Meals

• schools in areas of deprivation where activity levels of children and young people are typically low

• schools focused on children and young people with special education needs and disabilities.

We will accept applications from all schools, however, we will prioritise applications:

• After school activity: Secondary Schools (including middle schools), Pupil Referral Unit’s and Special Schools (Please note all provision must be focused on Year 7 and above)

• Opening facilities for community use: Primary (including First schools), Secondary Schools (including middle schools) and Special Schools

• Schools with on-site swimming pools: Activity must be focused on relaunching children’s swimming programmes that target children and young people from lower socio-economic groups and deprived communities.

Applications

To apply, please complete the Expression of Interest form by 5pm on Friday 14th May 2021 by clicking on the button below.

We will assess all applications week commencing 17th May 2021 and will notify all applicants of the outcome by Tuesday 25th May 2021.

Additional Support

As part of Rise’s Phase 1 Opening School Facilities Research Project conducted in 2020, we have established a platform with resources for schools in conjunction with Active Solutions. This platform provides best practice case studies, information on funding, booking systems and contact details for other organisations who can provide support to schools to develop a community offer. This information can be found at www.active-solutions.org

Sport England have also updated their ‘Use our School’ resources on their website which provides information and guidance for schools opening their facilities for community use. This includes; Operating Models, Marketing & Publicity, Governance & Legal issues and finance considerations. This information can be found at Use our school | Sport England.

For further information please email cyp@wearerise.co.uk