Some of the themes that were identified from the analysis of the open-ended feedback included pupils:
- Appreciating the choice;
- Enjoying the football and netball sessions;
- Being around ‘safe’ people;
- Being with friends and making new friends;
- Fun and enjoyment.
Feedback was nearly all positive. When asked if there was anything pupils would change about the sessions, most reported ‘nothing’ or ‘more sessions/sports’. The only negatives were a handful of comments about tournament cancellations and a few references to people arguing.
Community benefits:
As of January 2023, Ysgol Y Grango has seven different clubs /groups using the facilities throughout the week, from 4.45pm through to 9.30pm on weeknights. Community groups also use the school at the weekends from 10am to 4pm. Each day has a different activity.
One of the benefits for the pilot has been that it fitted strategically with a wider desire to engage with the community. The support of senior leadership within the school was again identified as a key enabler. In this case, the school’s business manager was keen to engage the community and AEBSD complemented other funding investments and strategies. This included the FAW’s strategy to engage with schools and invest in facilities and Covid recovery funding which had helped develop tennis and netball. The AEBSD funding improved the changing rooms, which were in poor condition, making them female friendly and splitting them off from the schools so community clubs could access them without the need for a school caretaker to open and close buildings. As part of the broader picture of investment, community focussed school funding has also added a new floor to the sports hall and provided a tractor and storage space that pitches can be self-maintained across the hub.
One of the advantages of the hub is that it is managed by a strategic group chaired by a councillor with a group Terms of Reference. The hub has agreed winter and summer pricing (cheaper) policies to be offered consistently across the facilities within the hub so that they are not competing against each other and are supporting fewer, but stronger clubs.
A particular success has been the development of the boot room, which had just begun during the summer review and is now up and running. This achieves two things – it provides boots and kit for those who may not be able to afford it and it provides pupils with footwear that is appropriate for use on a 3G surface. The pupils are using the room and the LA lead considered that it was “really working well...no stigma”, with the success meaning other schools are starting to develop their own equivalents.
Enablers for success and sustainability in this school include:
- Complements the wider strategic direction of schools, the LA and an NGB. Although the emphasis here was football, similar approaches could be replicated by connecting with other sports’ facility strategies.
- Having champions in the school – two members of staff and business manager. Without that capacity, a community focussed approach is “trickier”.
- An element of funding to make it as easy as possible to safely open up facilities. Further capital investment for facilities is considered to be much in need, with poor stock requiring upgrading.
- A role within the LA that has oversight of the overall direction of travel and can connect and ‘conduct’ so that initiatives such as the pilot complement a wider ten year plan. It is advantageous to be based across sport and education departments and have wider connection with departments such as asset management and planning teams.