Members of NEST have a unique opportunity to build strong, lasting relationships with local schools this year as a result of a new business partnership with The Youth Sport Trust.Throughout 2012 and the first half of 2013, NEST are official partners with the Youth Sport Trust Business Honours Club, providing members with direct access to over 16,000 Primary Schools, over 3000 Secondary Schools and a number of Independent Schools and early years activity providers across the country.
Funded by Sport England, The Youth Sport Trust is the primary body for developing and delivering the national sports strategy through local groups of schools and the Trust together with NEST has a shared mutual strategy that involves getting more young people participating in sport, on a frequent basis.
NEST is significantly investing in various initiatives throughout the coming year, for the purpose of recruiting and retaining new students for its members and NEST sees schools as a primary channel for doing this.
What changes are happening in schools?
Each Primary and Secondary School in the country has a dedicated contact person who makes decisions around the ‘school to club links’ a school can choose to set up.
Historically, schools were linked to School Sports Partnerships or S.S.P’s and these organisations were responsible for setting up and running activities with clubs in the local community. A typical School Sports Partnership run by a Partnership Development Manager (P.D.M.) had up to 20 School Sports Co-ordinators deciding which clubs gained access to schools and each of these S.S.Co’s had up to 6 Primary Link Teachers or P.L.T’s (one in each school) to make activities happen.
However, over the past year, there have been a number of organisational changes to the operating structure within schools, which mean that certain ways of promoting and conducting sports sessions in schools have changed. These changes have taken place for several reasons. One is about operational efficiency and cost reduction. Another is about maximising the opportunity to create a long-lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympics.
Schools now have School Games Organisers (known locally as S.G.O’s) who are responsible for developing and delivering sports in small school clusters.
Primary Schools continue to have a Primary Link Teacher (P.L.T.) who works in conjunction with Head Teachers to determine how they will implement activities within individual schools. However, each P.L.T ultimately works cross-functionally with School Games Organisers, for the purposes of delivering school sports locally. This means that your first point of contact for setting up activities with local schools is now your School Games Organiser (SGO), followed by the individual schools’ Primary Link Teacher (P.L.T).
In reality, most S.G.O’s were formally School Sports Coordinators and so the people who are making these decisions are typically unchanged. However, you need to be aware that schools are still adapting to the organisational changes locally and there will be differences in how schools establish links with sports clubs in different schools locally.
A key objective of the Youth Sport Trust Conference in February is for Head Teachers and S.G.O’s to agree how they will work together in the future and NEST will be promoting its members and how they can help schools with these changes at this event.
What are schools looking for in a Club?
There are a number of ways in which NEST members can get involved with schools this year.
Schools are already looking for clubs that:
Offer a FREE taster session for pupilsSessions can be run at your academy, run on school premises or run in school class time as part of the P.E or P.S.H.E curriculum.
Can run an After School ClubIn their simplest form, this can be an hour long martial arts class, in the school hall after school hours.
Offer Breakfast Sessions (between 8am and 9am) and / or classes at Lunchtime, on school premises (subject to school hall space being available.)
Offer Holiday Activity Sessions, on or off school premises.
Run pre-school activities for 3-5 year olds.
Have CRB / Disclosure cleared Instructors, suitable for working with children.
Have appropriate Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance for working with children.
Most schools only want an initial free taster session so that the S.G.O’s can ‘see you in action’ and understand how your organisation works. Most activities thereafter (with the exception of classes in curriculum time) are funded by parents.
Reaching parents is straightforward, once you have a school’s permission to promote your activity. Club to parent communication is normally conducted by either distributing a school book bag leaflet to pupils or by ParentMail e-mail direct to parents, for schools that use this IT system.
How do I contact my local schools?
NEST will shortly be releasing details of the national Schools Database into the NEST Marketing Toolkit. Here, members will be able to quickly identify all the schools in their area, their operating framework with neighbouring schools and the contact details of your School Games Organisers and Primary Link Teachers.
You will then be able to contact your schools, direct.
Would you offer Free Taster Sessions for School Pupils?
The first of a number of initiatives NEST will be promoting with schools starts this month with the promotion of FREE club taster sessions at the Youth Sport Trust Conference attended by Head Teachers and School Games Organisers from across the country. Free taster sessions are a key promotional ‘hook’ for linking your club with schools, whether these are run after school, at weekends or during school holidays and the NEST owned freemartialartsclasses.com website will be the mechanism by which schools and parents will contact your club direct.
If you are a member of NEST who would like to be involved and you are prepared to offer a free taster session for pupils in local schools, you need to opt in to take part. Members should log in to the NEST Promotional Portal at www.nestpromotionalportal.com, check their contact and timetable details are correct and ‘opt in’ to the ‘freemartialartsclasses.com’ offer by ticking the opt in box provided.
SGO’s and / or teachers may contact your club direct. Alternatively, student prospects may book a lesson direct online and you’ll be notified by email of any bookings made.
Further updates and invitations to get involved in working with schools will follow in future NEST Newsletters and members’ weekly ‘Pulse’ e-shots.
The
Martial Arts Show Live, returning for the third consecutive year at
the NEC Birmingham. Hope to see you there on 12th-13th of May 2012.
Nest Management will be at Stand 21
