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H e r t s S p o r t s a n d P h y s i c a l A c t i v i t y Pa r t n e r s h i p

A n n u a l R e p o r t2 0 1 4 / 2 0 1 5

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The work of the Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership (known as HSP) is only as strong as the continuously improving relationships with and between our key partners. They all contribute massively to the overall effectiveness of HSP and share our vision: “Working together to encourage more people to be more active more often”.

In this section we focus on some of our partners, whilst other key partners including Hertfordshire County Council, parish and town councils, our health sector partners and those involved in education, equality and workforce development are featured elsewhere.

Our Key Partners

Our continuing focus during 2014/2015 has been on community sport and physical activity and increasing participation in Hertfordshire. I am proud of the Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership team’s successes, particularly in relation to their top-three ranking in the 2014 national stakeholder assessment, winning nationally recognised project awards and successful collaborative bids for funding. I am delighted that this Annual Report highlights these and many more. The range and scope of the community sport, physical activity and health initiatives available in the county is extensive and I thank the highly committed HSP staff, my fellow Executive Board members and all those involved in and representing the wider partnership. Particularly important is the role of the thousands of volunteers who enable sport to develop across the county.

I am determined to encourage the HSP team to continuously lobby and work with local and national government, Sport England, health and other strategic partners to maintain and improve opportunities for participation in sport and physical activity for all.

Top level sporting success continues to be an inspiration - Saracens RFC, Watford Town FC, Stevenage FC, Hertfordshire Mavericks, Jodie Williams, Laura Trott and, of course, World F1 2014 Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Message from the Chair

Grahame BowlesChairman

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Our Key Partners

Hertfordshire Association

of Cultural & Leisure Officers

As founder members of HSP back in 2004, the Hertfordshire Association of Cultural and Leisure Officers group (HACO) continues to provide invaluable support. In particular the annual local authority funding for the Partnership, from Hertfordshire’s county, district and borough councils is crucial to our county-wide success. Meeting quarterly to share good practice and strengthen partnerships, HACO members contribute to the strategic development of leisure and cultural facilities, participation programmes and initiatives across the county.

With representation on our Executive Board, HACO members are invaluable in keeping community sport and physical activity high on county and local authority agendas.

National Governing Bodies of Sport

Working closely with the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of sport project officers at regional, county and district levels, we continue to help them achieve the targets and strategic priorities included in their 2013-2017 whole sport plans.

Over the year we have refreshed our networking events to ensure that NGBs engage with wide-ranging and relevant audiences effectively. An example of this was our Parks and Open Space Managers event that brought many new people together to hear from, and start working directly with NGB officers.

Another key strength of our work is the opportunity for NGBs to be involved in our participation-driven programmes, such as Sportivate, Satellite Clubs and Active Together. Many of these are highlighted later in this report.

Sports Development Officers

As the principal contacts for sport and physical activity at district level the county’s excellent Sports Development Officers (SDOs), working in the ten local authorities in Hertfordshire, play a vital role in promoting participation. Their positive, professional and enthusiastic support for working together is outstanding.

We rely heavily on the SDO team to provide local intelligence and engagement with their sporting networks, which greatly contributes to the effectiveness of our work. Recent examples of this are the successful collaborative funding applications to Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund. These have led to an additional £1.2 million of Sport England funding for exciting new projects across Hertfordshire.

Community Sports Networks

We continue to work with Hertfordshire’s ten Community Sports Networks (CSNs); one in each of the districts. They play a crucial role in supporting and developing sport and physical activity in their local communities, particularly in supporting the development of sports clubs, coaches and volunteers. Each CSN brings local organisations and sectors together, including sports clubs, health services, facility providers, schools, colleges and local councils.

The CSNs provide a local voice for community sport and are crucial to identifying need. They also work with senior officers and elected members to encourage them to consider the needs of community sport when prioritising resources.

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Health agencies

We work with numerous health-related organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of Hertfordshire residents. We must particularly highlight the considerable work undertaken with Hertfordshire Public Health, East & North Herts CCG, Herts Valleys CCG and the four districts of Watford, Stevenage, Hertsmere and Broxbourne, to develop the Healthy and Active in Herts 3-year project.

This will focus on reducing inactivity and tackling health inequalities. The project has been funded by a successful grant application to Sport England’s Get Healthy, Get Active fund. The total project funding is £1,025,000 and planning is underway to start in August 2015.

Funding Support We signed a partnership agreement with the Funding4Sport consultancy in January 2015. This will help to ensure that clubs, schools and other sporting organisations in Hertfordshire can maximise opportunities to source external funding streams, supporting the provision of sport at all levels. The agreement provides sports clubs and organisations access to a wide range of specialist advice to help them fund participation initiatives, improve facilities and work towards long term sustainability. Partners are able to choose from the options toolbox that includes funding workshops, 1:1 funding clinics, advice for developing a funding strategy, and a no win - no fee bid writing service.

The agreement has been popular and is likely to lead to significant funding success. £800,000 has been applied for since January and around 30 clubs a month are using this new funding opportunity. We look forward to clubs realising the benefits of this as 2015 unfolds.

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We are delighted to report that during 2014/15 we have strengthened the support that we offer to the 2,500 or so local sports clubs across the county.

Our extensive club support package focuses on the key issues identified by the clubs themselves. It brings together all the strands of our work that help to strengthen the sports club infrastructure in local communities. We work closely with them both directly and through our range of partners. The role that the huge voluntary workforce plays in enabling and empowering the people of Hertfordshire to be more physically active and healthy must be acknowledged.

Support for Local Clubs

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Sport England Club Matters

Club Matters is Sport England’s one stop shop for sports clubs which provides free access to convenient and practical resources to help them develop and become sustainable. The innovative tools are easy for clubs to sign up to and use.

We have been an ardent advocate of a national club support programme and have led the recent consultation on the Club Matters package. This has offered clubs in Hertfordshire the opportunity to feed back to Sport England about the quality and value of the Club Matters support and to influence its content.

We look forward to the continued development of this programme and the value that it will add for local clubs.

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Volunteers are the life blood of grassroots sport in the UK. They have a positive effect on our lives as children, adults, parents and grandparents. They teach us how to swim, ride a bike, keep us safe at sports clubs and manage our football teams.

Seven out of ten local sports clubs tell us that they need more volunteers so we have been working hard to bring this new initiative to life and reverse that trend.

Through Join In Hertfordshire we have recruited a team of volunteer coordinators who match people to fun, interesting and rewarding volunteering opportunities within sports clubs and at sporting events across the county.

By linking with the Join In Trust, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy charity, we aim to embed sports volunteering through everything we do, and create an extra 200 dedicated sports volunteers in Hertfordshire.

Join In hertfordshire

Recognising that young sports leadersand coaches are the future workforce for sport in Hertfordshire, we have supported the leadership, volunteering and coaching lead for schools in Hertfordshire. A defined Leadership Academy and coaching pathway for young people of all ages, from primary school children to adolescents is now in place.

We are passionate about empowering and enabling young people to be

SportsLeadership

involved in sport and we believe that the Leadership Academy gives sports coaches and leaders of the future the requisite skills, knowledge and experience.

We also provide on-going practical and funding support to local provider Stevenage Sporting Futures. They currently employ 83 sports apprentices across the county who work with schools and support county-wide events.

Sports volunteers in Hertfordshire

Join In Network Coordinators

opportunities on the Join In

website

550 100,00010

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Annual General Meeting

Our annual Service to Sport Awards evening was, as ever, a celebration of the fantastic role our dedicated volunteer army play in Hertfordshire sport.

Held in December, the evening celebrated the efforts of over 40 sports volunteers as they were presented with trophies in front of a 350 strong audience. 125 individuals were nominated, representing 25 different sports from all ten of the county’s local authority areas.

The highlights of the evening’s entertainment were a dazzling performance by Andrew Wilding, international basketball freestyler and an inspirational interview with our special guest, David Moorcroft. As a former 5,000m world record holder and Director of the sports volunteer charity Join In, his story and insight struck a chord with the audience.

Our awards evening is one of the highlights in our calendar and again we thank all the individuals and organisations that supported the event.

Hertfordshire Service to Sport Awards 2014

The Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership AGM provides an opportunity to share our successes and achievements with our partner organisations and colleagues. As always, in 2014 we celebrated their contribution and publicly acknowledged the vital role they play.

In early June almost 70 people representing HSP partners, their organisations and sports clubs, enjoyed a lively presentation by our special guest. Nick Bitel, Chair of

Sport England and CEO of the London Marathon gave an insight into the highs and lows of one of the UK’s highest profile events. He then shared his views about the impetus and legacy created by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the future of community sport.

The brief official AGM business was followed by valuable and informal networking over light refreshments.

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Sport iN Primary Schools

The goverment’s PE and Sport Premium continues to help primary schools improve the quality of the PE and sport activities offered to their pupils. We receive government funding to fulfil three key support functions: to provide intelligence for future planning by monitoring how local schools are spending the funding; providing schools with local sports participation and training opportunities; and providing direct support to schools.

In September 2014 we set up the Primary Headteacher Advocates group with the Youth Sport Trust and 12 headteachers representing each of the School Sports Partnership areas in Hertfordshire.

We are delighted with the progress made so far, effectively sharing information about the sport and activity support available across the county, identifying need and shaping the provision and expertise available for Primary Schools.

‘The challenge of growing youth participation in sport’ is the title of an insight report published by Sport England in August 2014. It provides a wealth of information about how and why young people play sport, their motivations, and what they want from their sporting experiences.

As we tackle some of the issues highlighted, such as peer pressure, competition from technology, motivation and the need to understand behaviours and behaviour change, we now have a team of officers who focus their work on children and young people aged from 5 to 25. This section highlights some of their achievements during 2014/15.

children &young people

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Satellite ClubsWell into our second year of this Sport England programme that links secondary schools with local sports clubs, Satellite Clubs are now well-established in local communities across Hertfordshire. They help to increase sports participation amongst 11-25 year olds and support the sustainability of local clubs.

The programme’s success is due to effective working relationships with the relevant key partners, including Sports Development Officers, School Games Organisers, National Governing Bodies, coaches, local clubs and schools.

We have been working throughout the year to make sport appealing to young people and ensure all abilities are welcome. We work to create realistic pathways into established clubs to keep participants engaged and active.

Primary pe & School sport Conference

Dedicated to high quality physical education and school sport as a support to whole school improvement, the PE and School Sport Conference held in January attracted head teachers, school governors and PE leads from numerous Hertfordshire primary schools.

The conference featured a mixture of inspirational keynote speakers and practical and theoretical workshops as well as a bustling marketplace of primary school-related products and services. Delegates left the conference inspired to go back to their schools and implement some of the lessons learnt.

We organised the conference in partnership with Herts for Learning, the Youth Sport Trust, Sport England and the event hosts, the University of Hertfordshire. We particularly thank event sponsors Hertfordshire-based CComm IT Solutions.

Inter - FE Games We continue to work with the four Hertfordshire further education colleges (Oaklands, Hertford Regional, West Herts and North Hertfordshire) to enhance the student experience by providing opportunities to actively participate in sport.

Working with the four College Sport Makers and using funding from the Sportivate programme, we offered a series of sports sessions in each college throughout the year. These sessions provide a fantastic opportunity for students who then make up the teams competing for the Herts Inter-FE Games trophy. Our thanks go to over 40 or so volunteers who supported the event.

This year’s activity saw the introduction of touch rugby, cricket and many more new opportunities for disabled students to compete. Fixtures were hard fought and competitive, and the Oaklands College team emerged victorious.

School Games Organisers

The role and scope of the county’s School Games Organisers (SGOs) is constantly evolving to effectively assist schools with their sport and physical education programmes, and to offer a range of Continuing Professional Development opportunities for school staff. The SGOs have detailed knowledge of the local community sports infrastructure and help schools to connect with this.

The primary role of SGOs is the coordination of the School Games programme in Hertfordshire - the Level 1 (intra-school), Level 2 (inter-school) and Level 3 (county) competitions. They ensure that the School Games programme is linked to the work of NGBs and encourages continued participation by pupils through links with local clubs. The Level 3 events are major county competitions that promote all that is best about competitive sport.

79

SATELLITE CLUBS

23

DIFFERENT SPORTS

1250

PARTICIPANTS

3000+

pupilS involved

225 Schools sports Leaders

19Different Sports

128

Schools represented

18 Presentations & Workshops

263Delegates

2000

Student participants

500 Competitors

9

Sports

9

Active StudentsAn exciting year for our award-winning Active Students project started with a successful collaborative bid to Sport England’s University Sport Activation Fund. This let us to grow and develop the programme for students at the University of Hertfordshire and Royal Veterinary College for a further three years.

The project had a marketing face-lift and introduced some new and exciting activities designed to appeal to the non-sporty students, building on Active Students’ reputation for innovation. These activities included cross-fit, salsa and cycling as well as our popular 3km Colour Fest and Ultra Violet Sports Party. The first six months have considerably exceeded targets and over 2500 students have attended sessions and events.

Sport - Specific Activators

Whilst continuing to increase participation levels through the Active Students programme, we have worked closely with NGBs to introduce a number of new roles - the Higher Education Sport-Specific Activators (HESSAs), at the University of Hertfordshire.

HESSAs are volunteers who work in conjunction with the Active Student Programme team to promote informal sessions and, where possible, link activities to the University Athletic Union Clubs and community sports clubs. In return for their valuable contribution HESSAs are funded to take coaching qualifications and attend workshops to help enhance their CVs.

In 2014/15 they successfully helped increase participation in athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cricket, football, golf, netball, rugby union and tennis.

The uh , College Communities &

Schools Netball LeagueSignificant netball participation by students and school pupils, with no suitable opportunities for competition, led us to link Active Students with the UH Athletic Union, FE colleges, sixth forms and community players. As a result, the Hertfordshire University, College Communities & Schools League was born.

The target was to increase netball participation in the key 16-25 age group. The League now includes ten teams with nearly 80 players competing in matches on Tuesday evenings. We are delighted with this success which is due to partnership working between HSP, the local England Netball Development Officer, the University Netball Officer and community clubs.

SportivateThe success of the Sportivate programme in all Hertfordshire districts during 2014/15 was very encouraging. Targeting participation amongst 11-25 year olds, we are indebted to our partners and sports clubs for their continued support. We secured additional ‘Innovation Fund’ money from Sport England that was used to particularly target the 19-25 age groups. To this end we enabled the provision of activities for homeless people, and those in the workplace in addition to the mainstream programme.

Sportivate programmes ran in all ten of the local authority districts and included some interesting approaches. WGC Bowls Club worked with pupils from Monks Walk School to introduce the sport and create a local link, and a multi-disciplinary approach with Walkern Cycle Club using the BMX track in Royston, indoor turbo training and road cycling.

900+

participating per week

55SPORTS & ACTIVITIES

17,500

ATTENDANCES SEPT-MARCH

41

SPORTS & ACTIVITIES

238PROJECTS IN YEAR 4

2897

young people taking part

10

-

“Taking part in the recent HSP funding workshop was incredibly useful. Working

through the application form step by step helped me

understand what funders are looking for and how to use ‘youth insight’ effectively.”

Stephen, Harpenden-based sports club

“The professionalism of the team and quality of the advice

received is great. It is a pleasure to deal with HSP and I am always

impressed by the dedication and commitment of the whole team.”

Jan Stock, Chair Active East Herts, HSP Stakeholder

Survey 2014

“Although I suffer from Parkinson’s disease,

both the strength and balance and chair-based exercise classes

that I go to have helped slow down the degenerative effects of this. The

instructors are fantastic and help keep me motivated.” Vic, Falls Prevention

Wormley Village Hall

“Ertan has a severe hearing impairment and

struggles to engage with his peers. After taking part in

rounders today his confidence has blossomed. He discovered that he loved bowling and we’ll now try to get Ertan involved

in a local cricket club.” Kirsty, Herts

Inter-FE Games

“Since coming to Yoga, I find I don’t argue with my

boyfriend or family as much. I feel more relaxed

and I sleep better.” Hannah, Sportivate Hitchin Girls School

”I really enjoyed the two dodgeball courses I attended.

The tutor made it easy to grasp what was a new sport for me and I will now be able to start

coaching in schools.“ Nathan, Coach Ed Week 2015

“I like the fact that it’s a free and fun way to exercise and do

something healthy a few times a week. I value the fact

that it is flexible as I can’t commit to sport due to my placement, so it is

perfect for me.”Alex,

Active Students

“From the moment we started I loved it. I didn’t

need a partner, my body was getting moved in ways it hadn’t moved for a long time and I felt rejuvenated. The teacher and

group treated us all like friends from the first moment. Everyone

could join in and give it a go.” Jane, Love to Dance

Whitehill Centre

AWARD WINNING PROJECTActive Students project won two prestigious awards

UKACTIVE AND MATRIX FLAME AWARDS 2014 Healthy Partnership category -

WINNERS: awarded for a project that demonstrates an excellent collaborative approach to

IMPROVING health and wellbeing

THE GUARDIAN UNIVERSITY AWARD 2015Student Experience category -

WINNERS: awarded to an innovative project that has POSITIVELY ENHANCED the student experience in their

ACADEMIC LIVES or personal wellbeing

RANKED JOINT FIRST in the country for percentage of respondents

SATISFIED OR VERY SATISFIED with the quality of SUPPORT AND ADVICE given by HSP

NATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS SURVEYAnnual CSP partner satisfaction survey

RANKED FIRST IN THE COUNTRY for percentage of respondents

SATISFIED OR VERY SATISFIED with the value HSP adds to their work

SECOND HIGHEST Net Promoter Score in ENGLAND, BASED ON how likely individuals are to

RECOMMEND HSP to a friend or colleague

70%70%

SPORT ENGLAND MONITORINGPerformance assessment for CSPs

RATED GREENoverall and for all CORE-ACTIVITY PROGRAMMES (top grade available) MEETING AND EXCEEDING targets in some areas

Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership

10

11

-

“Taking part in the recent HSP funding workshop was incredibly useful. Working

through the application form step by step helped me

understand what funders are looking for and how to use ‘youth insight’ effectively.”

Stephen, Harpenden-based sports club

“The professionalism of the team and quality of the advice

received is great. It is a pleasure to deal with HSP and I am always

impressed by the dedication and commitment of the whole team.”

Jan Stock, Chair Active East Herts, HSP Stakeholder

Survey 2014

“Although I suffer from Parkinson’s disease,

both the strength and balance and chair-based exercise classes

that I go to have helped slow down the degenerative effects of this. The

instructors are fantastic and help keep me motivated.” Vic, Falls Prevention

Wormley Village Hall

“Ertan has a severe hearing impairment and

struggles to engage with his peers. After taking part in

rounders today his confidence has blossomed. He discovered that he loved bowling and we’ll now try to get Ertan involved

in a local cricket club.” Kirsty, Herts

Inter-FE Games

“Since coming to Yoga, I find I don’t argue with my

boyfriend or family as much. I feel more relaxed

and I sleep better.” Hannah, Sportivate Hitchin Girls School

”I really enjoyed the two dodgeball courses I attended.

The tutor made it easy to grasp what was a new sport for me and I will now be able to start

coaching in schools.“ Nathan, Coach Ed Week 2015

“I like the fact that it’s a free and fun way to exercise and do

something healthy a few times a week. I value the fact

that it is flexible as I can’t commit to sport due to my placement, so it is

perfect for me.”Alex,

Active Students

“From the moment we started I loved it. I didn’t

need a partner, my body was getting moved in ways it hadn’t moved for a long time and I felt rejuvenated. The teacher and

group treated us all like friends from the first moment. Everyone

could join in and give it a go.” Jane, Love to Dance

Whitehill Centre

COUNTY SPORTS PARTNERSHIP NETWORKEndorsement of the CSPN UK - “Good to Great Mission”

500,00

250,000

1 mill ionTO GET 1 MILLION

young people more

ACTIVE

To reduce the NUMBER OF adults that are

INACTIVE by 250,000

To get 500,00 MORE ADULTS PARTICIPATING regularly in SPORT

FUNDING SUCCESS FORHERTFORDSHIRE SPORTDirect HSP involvement in 2014/15

£80,000

BIG LOTTERY FUND

Awards for All for sport and physical

activity related PROGRAMMES

SPORT ENGLAND Community Sport ACTIVATION FUND

SPORT ENGLAND Small Grants

OTHER fundingSOURCES

£845,000

£217,000

£160,000

QUEST EXCELLENCEThe UK Quality Scheme for Sport and Leisure and an industry tool for continuous improvement

MAINTAINED OUR Sports Development

EXCELLENCE RATING FROM 2013/14 YEAR, having been the first CSP to

ACHIEVE THIS the previous year

A High Performing County Sports Partnership

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Our coaching development team continually strives to raise the standards of leadership and coaching for Hertfordshire sport through the support we offer clubs, coaches, leaders and other sports and event volunteers. The varied courses and workshops programme that we offer contributes to a well-qualified, inspiring and professional workforce.

Workforce Developmenteducation & skills

courses & workshopsA central element of our club and coach development programme are the courses and workshops we run throughout the year. These support coaches at all levels, from sports leaders, apprentices and others starting their coaching journey through to those established and experienced coaches who are working with talented and elite athletes.

During 2014/15 we offered coaching award courses, Safeguarding and First Aid workshops (essential for both coaches and clubs working towards their Clubmark accreditation), and other sports coach UK workshops, as well as strength and conditioning, disability specific, marketing, funding and courses for physical activity and health-related instructors. These are all part of our comprehensive continuous professional development programme, raising the standards within coaching and volunteering.

coacheS & volunteers

CourseS & workshops

Different topics

12

50 21600

12

SafeguardingWe are committed to establishing high standards for the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults who take part in sport and physical activity. During our recent Quest (a quality assurance tool for the sport and leisure industry) renewal, it was acknowledged that we have “robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place”, and the Child Protection in Sport Unit’s latest annual review awarded us a green rating for our work in this area.

Our partnership with local charity Pro-Action Hertfordshire subsidises the cost for volunteers attending both our Safeguarding & Protecting Children and First Aid courses.

Volunteers and coaches from Pro-Action affiliated clubs get a 60% reduction on the course fees, providing a significant discount on what are essential courses for local clubs. This ensures that the coaches and instructors involved are suitably qualified, and meet the required standards for working in local communities.

Coach Education Week 2015

Once again, the February half term was given over to Herts Coach Education Week, which has become the biggest event of its kind in the UK. From the launch of the programme at the Herts FA Coaching Conference in November, bookings for the 70+ courses was brisk.

New this year were a Rugby League Level 1 coaching course, an Archery Instructor Award and a course for Cardio Tennis instructors. We worked closely with our NGB partners to ensure the success of these and all the other courses held at a variety of venues across the county. Established favourites like sport science workshops, a coaching breakfast and an array of courses for teachers and leaders proved as popular as ever.

We are proud of this extensive one-week programme and appreciate the hard work of everyone involved in making it so successful.

coachmarkOur nationally recognised CoachMark scheme continues to reinforce standards for coaches, instructors and volunteers delivering sport and physical activity within Hertfordshire.

Now in its fifth year, CoachMark has more than 400 registered coaches who have demonstrated that they meet nationally agreed standards for coaches. With support from Hertfordshire County Council, Saracens Community Foundation, Watford Community Sports & Education Trust, coaching agencies and a number of sports bodies, CoachMark is now an established feature of the local coaching landscape and we are proud of its success.

Anti - Bullying Week 2014For the first time, in November 2014 we fully supported Anti-Bullying Week by launching our own Hertfordshire Anti-Bullying in Sport campaign. Our focus was on special needs and disability and we took the opportunity to raise awareness of anti-bullying in sport.

We updated our HSP website with an anti-bullying section that now includes an exemplar policy for clubs; ran a social media campaign with a #StopBullying photo competition for schools and clubs; and introduced a Stop Bullying in Sport card for distribution through clubs to children and parents. As a result a significant number of clubs reviewed and updated their anti-bullying policies.

420

ApproveD Coachmark coaches

2066Registered for coachmark

5years & still growing

1400

Coaches

35Different sports

18Different venues

13

14

As a result of a number of successful funding applications during 2014/15, we have been able to expand the level of support that we provide for accessible and appropriate opportunities for everyone to participate, volunteer and work in sport.

Equality in Sport

FundingThe Disability Sport Support Scheme was established to enhance the work of organisations responsible for delivering sport and physical activities to disabled people. Applications for funding were administered and managed by HSP, and considered and approved by the Herts Disability Sports Forum.

Funds were awarded to 18 different organisations and projects and included funding towards the cost of soft, safe trampoline steps to help disabled participants to get on to trampolines, a Bike-ability programme for a small group of disabled college students and assistance with start-up costs for a new pan-disability multi-sport activity session in St Albans.

DISABILITY SPORTS HUBThe Herts Disability Sports Hub is a new initiative that launched in 2014. A collaborative approach by partners that included Sport England, Hertfordshire County Council and Welwyn Hatfield District Council designed this three year project to increase the amount of sport and physical activity available to people with a disability in Hertfordshire. The aim is to improve the social, physical and mental health of participants.

Working with Herts Disability Day Services, participants attend a six week block of sports sessions at the Hub, located in Stanborough Park and Gosling Sports Park. This provides the opportunity to try a range of sports, find out what the participants like and provide pathways for continued participation. Our Disability Sports Officer is dedicated to the Hub, has been instrumental in the success of the early months of this project and will drive the expansion planned for the second year.

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In the spring of 2015 we launched our innovative Moving Mums programme that provides easy to access running and cycling sessions. Planned to take place after mums have dropped their children off at school, the activities start at the school gates.

Working with primary schools across the county, Moving Mums supports ‘This Girl Can’, Sport England’s campaign to increase participation in sport and physical activity by women and girls.

Successful funding from the Big Lottery Awards for All and Sport England’s Small Grants funds has enabled this programme to roll out across the county and focuses on physical activity and confidence building activities for women.

We were delighted that Moving Mums featured on Sky Sports’ SportsWomen programme, and is being used nationally as an example of good practice.

WomeN & GirlsSports Leadership Course

A number of disabled young people graduated as Sports Leaders and gained sports coaching awards following this 12-week programme during the summer of 2014. Funded by a grant awarded from the European Social Fund, the course provided significant employment skills and confidence building for the participants with disabilities who were not in employment, education or training.

Our Eastern Region MEP, Richard Howitt, presented participants with their Sports Leadership and Employability Certificates at a presentation event. It was testament to the value of the programme that he took the time to visit the young adults and endorse the their success.

We have continued to strengthen and develop our partnerships with Hertfordshire health organisations with a particular focus on improving health and wellbeing and promoting independent living. Key partners with whom we work closely with, and for, include Hertfordshire Public Health, the East of England Ambulance Service, the Clinical Commissioning Groups and the Hertfordshire County Council Community Wellbeing Team.

Health & physical activity

Physical Activity & Sport Framework

We worked with partners during 2014 to prepare and publish a new Physical Activity & Sport Framework for the county, on behalf of Public Health Hertfordshire. The purpose of the Framework is to ensure there is a coordinated and effective response to health problems caused by inactivity in Hertfordshire. It is aimed at county, district and borough, town and parish councils, public health leads, Local Strategic Partnerships, Health & Wellbeing Boards, NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups, third sector agencies, Healthwatch and community agencies.

The framework is designed to help these organisations work together and provide them with a strong, evidence-based framework for action. It identifies why investment in physical activity should be appropriate for the identified target groups, provide value for money and help improve health.

Making the case for increased funding for physical activity and therefore reducing health and social care costs in the longer term, the framework has been approved by the Hertfordshire Lifestyle and Legacy Partnership. It has also been endorsed by the County Leaders Group, HCC, Public Health and Localism Cabinet Panel and the Hertfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

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Active TogetherOur Active Together programme continues to run easy to access and affordable high quality multi-activity and dance classes for older adults in local village halls and community centres across the county. Feedback from the regular participants confirms the invaluable social, health and wellbeing benefits that the classes provide.

As a result of partnerships with Community Action Hertsmere and Watford Community Housing Trust, new classes have now been extended to these areas.

In March 2015 a programme highlight saw around 150 Love to Dance participants perform a half-time dance routine on the pitch at Wembley Stadium during a Saracens rugby match. They danced in front of a record 84,068 strong crowd!

Healthy Lifestyle Programme

Working with Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group and funded by the Healthier Communities Fund, this programme provides 1:1 support for patients over 50, who were identified as obese. Referred by their GP practices, the support focussed on helping them make changes to their eating habits and lifestyle to reduce their body weight and increase levels of physical activity. The project ran from February 2014 to late January 2015.

Almost all the participants lost weight and improved their BMI. Feedback from participants demonstrated that the key benefits for them included having more energy, better mood and self-esteem, and improved sleep and social interaction. These were of significant value to the individuals attending and had a positive impact on their life outside of the programme.

Falls Prevention Programme

Our Hertfordshire Falls Prevention programme continues to reap benefits for the participants involved. Now in its third year, the programme provides strength and balance, and chair-based exercise classes for those who have fallen or are at risk of falling. Through our partnership with the Falls Liaison Service classes have continued to retain participants and in 2014/15 demonstrated improvements in more than 75% of all assessed participants. 80% of participants had not had a fall twelve weeks after completing the course.

Satellite classes were introduced during 2014 to reach the areas within Hertfordshire that are not covered by our more established sessions. Funding for the programme has been confirmed until September 2015 and is currently being reviewed beyond this.

77%

Increased energy

34%Better mood & self esteem

93%would recommend

to others

40

classes per week

1000+weekly participants

30hertfordshire venues

32

94%

651

Participants

Say classes are "beneficial" or

"very beneficial"

Classes per week

Workplace ChallengeThe Workplace Challenge programme continued throughout 2014/15. Employees from 33 companies took part in the New Year 8-week challenge, with New Directions of Hemel Hempstead finishing top of the company leader board for Hertfordshire.

We also ran a series of inter-business sports competitions that proved extremely popular. Sports included badminton, table-tennis, dodgeball, volleyball and rounders and attracted more than 100 participants for each. These after-work events stimulate the benefits of physical activity, teamwork and social interaction with colleagues and others and are great fun too.

1500

Signed up

1000+Competitors

33local companies

17

1818

We are delighted that the success of recreational running in the county demonstrates partnership working at its best. We made the case to Public Health Herts for some funding to help volunteers to set up local parkruns in a number of districts.

Five new parkruns with linked running groups are already established, with average attendances of over 500

Recreational Running

each week. A further three parkruns are scheduled to start by in various locations by September 2015.

Further links with running clubs and the Join In Herts volunteer network will help the sustainability of the parkruns and the launch of new running groups in a range of community settings.

Working closely with local authority partners, we are delighted to have given our support and advocacy for funding applications to Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund (CSAF).

Examples of successful applications include a diverse programme of activities for families, those aged 50+, and young people as a means of

CSAF bid Projects

addressing health inequalities in one of Stevenage’s most deprived wards. Another is an activity programme in Hemel Hempstead for a range of target groups - those aged 14-25, BME communities, areas of highest social deprivation, health inequalities including childhood obesity and disability. Similar projects are also running in the Watford and Welwyn and Hatfield districts.

19

Income 2014/15 Core Funding £301,280

Project Funding £904,819

Local Authority contributions £50,000

Various - workshops, sponsorship £148,314

Total £1,404,413

Expenditure 2014/15 Staffing £465,766

Project Expenditure £678,647

Office accommodation and £40,000general running expenditure

C/fwd project expenditure £109,000straddling financial years

C/fwd expenditure to cover £111,000core business delivery in 15/16

Total £1,404,413

Continued financial stability for the Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership has seen a busy and innovative year for the team. We were awarded additional funding streams from a variety of funding agencies that included Public Health Hertfordshire, Sport England and the National Lottery Fund. The HSP team has been working on ways to improve sustainability and on a governance review that will support this.

Financial Review

Herts Sports Partnership

Sports Performance &

Development Centre,

de Havilland Campus,

Hatfield AL10 9EU

01707 284229

sportinherts.org.uk

@sportinherts

/sportinherts

Contact us