Who can help

No school exists in isolation. Partnerships are critical in order for schools to operate community use programmes successfully. External support and partnership working can also lead to success and there is a lot of expertise and help out there.

Partners can support schools on delivering the vision for community use by helping with the strategic positioning of the school, highlighting likely interest in community use, accessing the appropriateness of your facilities and helping to broker sporting partnerships.

Growing existing and establishing new partnerships is key to creating a sustainable business plan that can lead to a vibrant facility which delivers outcomes that are beneficial to both the school and community sport.

There are always opportunities for schools to explore new and innovative partnerships and this is set to become even easier as every county sports partnership will soon have a sport link officer who will be able to help you build relations. Examples of schools working with organisations such as national governing bodies of sport, local clubs and third sector agencies in partnership to deliver community use are set out on the delivery options pages of this website.

Schools are able to seek external support on:

• Sports and partnership development
  
• Management and operation
  
• Funding and finance
  
• Strategic planning and market appraisal

Potential partners who can help will include the county sports partnership (CSP), your local authority, other schools and their networks, statutory bodies such as Sport England, national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) and local sports networks to name but a few

Download the detailed who can help? diagram to see the areas where key partners could potentially help you. The local situation may not be consistent across England but this PDF can be used as a useful starting point for dialogue with those partners around the support needs of your school and its community use.

In order for the relationship to work it is vital that your school and any potential partners understand one another, visit the 'win win' scenario page of this website to discover how you can create a mutually beneficial situation.