Opening the school gates, success stories one year on

The school used the funding to purchase a wider range of gymnastics equipment to support a number of on site activities including cheerleading, gymnastics and parkour.

Not only supporting extra curricular offers for their students, the equipment enabled a local parkour group to partner with the school and hire the school facilities providing sessions for the local community.

The club now hire the hall with the gymnastics equipment multiple times per week for a range of different sessions which also include specific opportunities targeting young people with SEND needs and autism. 

The school have made significant upgrades to their swimming pool, including transforming it into a sensory pool to better support a wider range of users. These improvements have enabled the school to expand the swimming provision further and increase sessions delivered during the school day, evenings, weekends, and throughout the school holidays, targeting specific groups within the local community.

A key focus of the programme has been supporting children to develop water safety knowledge and build confidence in the water. School have delivered a large number of sessions specifically designed to help children who may not have had previous access to swimming lessons gain essential water safety skills, improve their confidence in the pool, and begin developing basic swimming ability. To support the long-term sustainability of the programme, the school recruited a female Level 1 swimming teacher and supported her to gain her Level 2 qualification and as a result now have both a male and female Level 2 swimming teacher, helping them to deliver more inclusive sessions and better meet the needs of the community.

The introduction of the sensory pool has created a more inclusive environment for SEND users, while targeted sessions for women, girls, and ethnically diverse communities and families locally have helped people feel more comfortable accessing swimming.

Since the end of the Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) funding, school were keen to ensure that opportunities for students to engage in activities beyond the core school day did not diminish. The school have further enhanced relationships with Barnsley Youth Workers, who recognised the positive impact the OSF funding previously had for the students to engage in activities outside of the school day. As a result, this partnership has supported the introduction of local youth club sessions specifically for Horizon students. These sessions have been particularly beneficial, providing a safe and welcoming environment where students can develop social skills, build confidence, and access an outlet that many did not previously have. 

School have also continued delivering their Darts Club, which has grown significantly and now regularly attracts over 50 students a week. Due to its popularity, school are now exploring opportunities to further develop the club by organising events and competitions for students to participate in, as well as incorporating charity fundraising events.  

Following the success of the OSF projects in school in engaging students in extra curricular and community provision on school site, the Director of Sport worked with local partners and volunteers to create Undercliffe Sports Club. This is now a grass roots community based sports club who have both an U14 netball team and an U14 football team that train each week using the school site and involve students from the school as well as other young people. The netball team are looking to join the West Yorkshire league from September 2026 with established weekly attendance. The football team have a squad of 17 and are currently second in their league playing weekly fixtures on a weekend with the hope of running two teams next season. The coaches and committee members are all volunteers including parents and former students and the club is based from the school site. The school also have developed a badminton club based out of the school providing alternative pathways for our students and the local community to access club sport. 

The school has successfully sustained and expanded the Opening Schools Facilities project, ensuring continued access to safe, high‑quality physical activity opportunities for children and their families to play together within the community. The school open their site twice weekly, offering a Family Games Club and a Bikes and Scooters Club, both designed to encourage shared physical activity, strengthen family relationships and promote community cohesion. The project enables parents and carers to participate alongside their children, creating a fun, low‑pressure environment where adults and young people can be active together. This approach has strengthened positive attitudes toward physical activity in households and supported families to develop healthier routines beyond the school setting. Witha high proportion of families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the clubs have become a valuable space where parents who may not ordinarily meet can connect through shared activities. Playing games together has helped build relationships across different ethnicities, reducing social isolation and strengthening the sense of belonging within our school community. Attendance remainsconsistently high and feedback from parents highlights the positive difference the clubs make to family life, children’s wellbeing, and community spirit. 

Outwood Academy City Fields (Wakefield) 

The school used funding to open their doors to community bookings working with a booking system provider, supporting community staff training and connecting with local sports providers to offer sessions in Eastmoor. In addition equipment was updated to ensure high quality in preparation for community use. Following the success of the programme the school now host a range of clubs from football, cricket (mens and ladies groups/ teams), Pickleball sessions, athletics, rugby and wheelchair rugby amongst others. 

The school continue to utilise revenue generated from lettings to reinvest in the facilities at school to ensure high quality opportunities are provided to the students in school and also the wider community. The school are now seen as a community hub and are involved in various initiatives to support the local community to move more in Wakefield.  

Following an update to the facilities using the funding the school have implemented a structured before-school gym and strength training programme for pupils across Key Stage 3. This initiative has created opportunities for pupils to engage in structured physical activity outside of the traditional school day, while simultaneously improving staff expertise, strengthening community partnerships, and positively impacting pupil wellbeing, academic engagement, and attitudes to learning. This programme represents a significant development in the school’s provision, particularly as a state school offering access to specialist strength and conditioning and weightlifting opportunities typically associated with independent sector provision.  

A particularly significant outcome of the programme has been the establishment of a formal partnership with a local private grammar school in Leeds. Independent schools traditionally have greater access to specialist facilities and niche sporting opportunities such as Olympic weightlifting however through this partnership, pupils now have access to competitive opportunities previously unavailable to them. As a result of this collaboration, pupils will now be competing in their inaugural inter-school weightlifting competition for Year 7–9 pupils. 

Thrybergh Academy established an after-school boxing programme to provide accessible sport opportunities for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and increase engagement in physical activity. The funding allowed the school to purchase boxing equipment including punch bags, gloves, pads and protective equipment, enabling a space within the school to be adapted into a safe training environment.The project has been particularly targeted at pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who may benefit from additional support with engagement, confidence and behaviour.  

By offering the activity within the school environment, the initiative ensures pupils have a safe and supportive space to be active after school. The project has also begun to build connections with the wider community by encouraging pupils to explore opportunities to continue boxing or fitness training locally.  

The boxing programme has had a positive impact on both pupils and the wider school environment. Many pupils attending the sessions have shown increased confidence, improved fitness and a stronger sense of belonging within the school. Some students who were previously less engaged in school activities now regularly attend the sessions and look forward to taking part. Teachers have also reported improvements in behaviour and focus among some of the pupils involved. The discipline and routine of boxing training has helped students develop greater self-control and resilience. The project has also strengthened the school’s extracurricular offer and created a positive space where pupils can socialise, be active and develop new skills after school. 

Stocksbridge High utilised the funding towards a fitness suite in a room that was previously used for storage of PE equipment. The programme has had a huge impact on the school’s offer not only during lessons but for extra-curricular activities and for use of the space in the evenings for the local community. 

The suite has 2 treadmills, bikes and rowers plus a ski erg for cardio workouts and also has a fully equipped cable machine, 2 weight benches with barbells and accompanying weights as well as racks of dumbells and kettlebells. Not only supporting an additional space to be active in the winter months, the room has also allowed the school to increase their extra-curricular offer with initially 3 and now 4 lunchtime and evening slots available for use.  

The school has also crucially developed a relationship with a former student turned personal trainer, who has established some of these sessions for the students free of charge in return for use of the facility for their own PT sessions in the evenings for members of the local community. This has allowed wider access to the facility and an opportunity for parents to benefit from the space. 

The school highlighted that with school funds being incredibly tight in the current climate, the OSF programme funding has been invaluable in allowing them to develop this space which continues to be utilised every day of the week both in and out of school hours.