Opening School Facilities

Opening School 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.

Sport England announced in February 2021 that £10.1 million of Department for Education funding (DfE) would be invested into the Active Partnership network to:

  • Help develop extracurricular opportunities and community links for children and young people.
  • Support schools to open and re-open their facilities to the local community.

This targeted investment to selected schools would build on existing funding to help schools open their facilities outside of school hours and encourage pupils to be more physically active.

The role of Active Cumbria was to provide support and investment to schools to help deliver after school provision to help young people reconnect, recover and return to play.

Opening School Facilities funding will –

  • Support targeted schools to open their facilities outside of the normal school day to allow children and young people and the wider community to access more opportunities to be physically active
  • Open school swimming pools during and outside the school day to focus on swimming and water safety lessons for pupils at their school and for pupils at other local schools
  • Target locations where health inequalities exist to promote physical activity to people who find it challenging to access opportunities to be active
  • Help to create a sustainable programme to encourage communities to be more physically active in the future

In 2021, 24 schools in Cumbria gained funding to deliver additional physical activity out of school hours. The average grant offer was £4852.

In March 2023 a further round of funding was announced which will see up to £57m invested in schools across England until March 2025.  Cumbria has been allocated just over £500,000.  As follows: 

The first 11 schools across the county received a share of £178,658.00.  

April 2023 - March 2024. A further 5 schools signed up to the programme. The 16 schools received a share of £177,145. 

All funds were split across primary, secondary and special schools. 

April 2024 - March 2025.  A further 10 schools signed up to the programme.  The 26 schools will receive a share of £182,539. All funds will be split across primary, secondary and special schools.