Opening School Facilities case study: Outwood Academy City Fields

Outwood Academy City Fields has not opened its doors to the community in over five years.

There was interest from students wanting to continue their love for sport outside the classroom but were unable to access this locally due to lack of opportunity and disposable income. Students had talked about their parents and friends wanting to get involved in local activities. The school opened a new sports block in 2024 and wanted to ensure that the benefits of the space were available to the local community around Eastmoor. The project has brought hundreds of children and adults from the community on a weekly basis to use the ever-improving facilities particularly in the sports hall area.

A student survey revealed that cricket, football, fitness and netball were sports they'd like to play after schoo.. School had also been approached by several local clubs and activity providers wanting to have a training base but the facilities were not suitable and the school has no process for managing bookings and use of the  site. 

The school purchased fitness equipment, football goal posts, cricket nets and other equipment, as well as developing storage space for external clubs and access routes to the sports hall. The school also provided several targeted after-school clubs for specific groups of young people using local club coaches to create pathways.

Sports clubs are now active partners using the school facilities weekly. These have included: Wakefield Trinity Boxing club, Wakefield Owls, Ladies Cricket, Alverthorpe FC, Stanley Rangers AFLFC, FirstKickFootball, Satire Supremes Majorettes, Leeds Liuthuanians Basketball, and Wakefield Westgate Cheerleaders. These clubs are now on the doorstep for the local community and sessions are promoted through school and local primary schools.

The Academy has enlisted Vivify as a booking system to oversee and manage the facility use which has helped support the school. Whilst school exam season also has a knock-on for some community lettings, the school look forward to welcoming more of the community in weeks, months and years. The school are now looking for further funding to develop their outdoor activity offer for local teams.

Read the impact report in full.