Government announces funding to open sports facilities in West Yorkshire schools

The Foundation has been given a share of up to £57m worth of Opening School Facilities investment from the Department for Education.

The funding, which equates to approximately £1million across South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, will enable 97 local schools to open up their facilities for children, young people and the wider community to access more opportunities to be physically active, before school, after school, during weekends, evenings and school holidays.

Schools can use this funding to purchase equipment to deliver new or additional clubs, to train employees to obtain qualifications to deliver new or additional activities, and to pay for activity deliverers to run the clubs.

They can also use funding to open their school swimming pools for pupils, focusing on providing valuable swimming and water safety lessons during and outside of the school day.

Dan Wilson, Director of Development at Yorkshire Sport Foundation, said the grant would make a real difference for schools and communities in the region.

"This money will help to provide more inclusive and accessible activities for young people and their families in areas that need them the most by increasing the amount of time schools can open and the range of activities that they can offer,” he said.

"This money will enable thousands more people to use their local primary or secondary school as a community asset for sport for many years to come.”