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Opening Schools Facilities Fund: Howard Junior School

Active Norfolk/Case Studies/Children and Young People/Opening Schools Facilities Fund: Howard Junior School

Redesign of Breakfast Club a success: Howard Junior School

The Opening Schools Facilities fund is designed to help schools extend their existing facilities outside of regular school hours so more young people can benefit from physical activity.

Howard Junior School were chosen as a school eligible for the first year of the Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) funds due to the needs of the pupils and the potential for this funding to make a significant difference. They applied for funding to develop their pre-existing Breakfast Club offer, in order to engage pupils who could benefit the most from additional physical activity within the programme.

Howard Junior School Breakfast Club: The Aim

The school applied for the funding to develop their existing breakfast club offer. The plan was to increase capacity and make the programme more accessible. Once developed, children would arrive, eat breakfast and then take part in activities before starting the school day.

The funding has meant the school have been able to use ICS Coaching to deliver a range of activities during the sessions. They have also been able to target the opportunities towards particular pupils

The project aims to help develop the approach to physical activity delivered in the school during extra-curricular time and provide children with a positive start to their school day, whilst providing a nutritious breakfast.

The Challenges

The initial challenge identified was engaging with priority groups. This included children with SEND, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds who could benefit from being more active. This was addressed by offering physical activity as part of the existing breakfast club. By doing this, the school have reached children who may not otherwise have attended an activity session.

Another reason children may not generally be able to participate is due to the cost of sessions outside of school hours. The funding received enabled the school to offer these sessions for free, making it more accessible to those disadvantaged families.

Our locality and CYP team worked together to liaise with the school and the ICS, in order to review the provisions already in place. They were then able to provide support and guidance on ways to consider using this funding innovatively to reach the target pupils.

“We have been able to use the funding flexibly in a way that suits our students who normally would not wish to engage in extra-curricular physical activity opportunities.”

Howard Junior School representative

“The school have done a great job of getting the kids more active in a creative way and we can definitely see the positive impact it has had on them.“

Active Norfolk representative

The Approach

Targeting West Norfolk priorities :

One of the key priorities for West Norfolk includes engaging children and young people to become more active. The locality officer has identified a need to remove negative perceptions and barriers associated with physical activity. Another focus is on reducing antisocial behaviour and raising aspirations within the Borough.

The benefits gained from being physically active can help with both of these priorities.

Increasing engagement:

The funding enabled Howard Junior School to develop their existing programme. The aim was to target students who might not otherwise engage with physical activity programmes. This may be due to financial concerns, or a lack of interest in physical activity. However, the appeal of combining breakfast club with physical activities has meant a large uptake in the programme. Now, they see around 20-25 attendees each week.

The Outcomes: Howard Junior School

Representatives from Active Norfolk visited the school to see the funding in action, and returned with extremely positive feedback. There were pupils there who don’t usually attend clubs. There were also some who struggles to get to school on time. All were having a great, active start to their day.

All children were very eager to finish their breakfast and get straight outside with the ICS coach.

ICS Coaching:

Feedback from the school highlighted the great work the ICS coach has done to deliver sessions which have been appropriate for the range of children who have joined the sessions. It was noted that the pupils responded well to the coach, and that all were very attentive, engaged and having fun.

The ICS Coach commented on how much he has enjoyed delivering the sessions, particularly as he has been able to coach across the year groups and design the sessions based on student feedback.

Impact of the sessions:

There were many excellent outcomes noted from the sessions, but a few of the main ones were:

  • Improved school attendance of some breakfast club attendees
  • Increased number of pupils accessing the breakfast club sessions
  • An increase in Year 6 girls activity levels
  • An increase in pupils with SEND taking part in extracurricular opportunities
  • Improved behaviour during the school day in those who attended being recognised by staff across the school
  • An overall improved attitude to PE, with pupils more willing to take part and bringing their PE kit more often

The overwhelming success of the project has meant Howard Junior School have made plans to develop it even further. These plans include increasing the number of sessions to 3 each week. They also involve making use of the school’s dance coach to add a more varied range of activities to the club, and making use of the new smoothie bikes they have on order.

Find out more

Howard Junior School were able to apply for funding through the Opening Schools Facilities fund. Whilst applications have now closed, you can click below to see more work from our Children and Young People (CYP) team. Get in touch to find out how they might be able to help you.

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