Schools are regarded by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council as a valuable resource for the wider community and it is the policy of the Council to encourage the use of educational facilities by the community when they are not being used for school purposes. Community use takes place in over 75% of East Riding schools with user groups ranging from local Brownie groups to Karate Clubs.
The community use of schools service actively promote, implement, manage and develop a programme of community use on education premises within the East Riding of Yorkshire. The service reimburses schools for the energy costs, which they incur when community groups use their site, outside normal school working hours. Reimbursement applies between 6 pm and 10 pm school days and all other times during weekends and school holidays.
The community can benefit by having access to a wide variety of facilities, which are often only available locally in schools. Secondly, the community also have access to these facilities at a relatively low cost. As well as the school benefiting financially there has also evidence, which suggests that schools are far less likely to be vandalised when their sites are being occupied by local community groups.
The service works closely with East Riding schools developing use of not only buildings/classrooms but courts and pitches. Partnership work with the Extended Schools team and Grounds Maintenance team have resulted in increased usage of facilities over the last two years.
The Service is also responsible for many areas of community land within the East Riding and takes bookings for the use of football pitches on these spaces.
The Community Use of Schools Officer supports any voluntary groups who manage parish halls/school sports halls etc under joint user agreements. These agreements generally allow the school to have primary use of any such facility during the school day. The facility is then taken over by a management group in the evenings, during weekends and school holidays to ensure such valuable facilities are fully utilised and are available for use by the wider community when the school would normally be closed.
When considering the use of a school for letting purposes; initially potential user groups liaise directly with schools to determine whether their chosen time slot and area within or on the school site is available. Providing the school are able to accommodate the request they will provide the user with a booking form to complete which has to be returned to the school together with evidence of the user groups public liability insurance. Once the school have entered the booking details into their diary for the caretaking purposes they send the form onto the Community Use of Schools Service who will then cost the letting, confirm the booking in writing and then invoice the user after the letting has taken place, this normally occurs at the end of each school term. Any pricing queries are best answered by the community use of schools service in the first instance as there are varying charges according to the nature of the user group e.g. Girl Guides, Scout groups receive a concessionary rate as they are voluntary, non profit making groups aimed at young people.
The service now has a requirement that all voluntary sporting clubs hiring school facilities must achieve (ERCAS) the East Riding Club Accreditation Scheme at Level 1. The aim of ERCAS is to ensure that clubs/user groups have a number of measures in place to certify that they are providing safe, quality sessions for their members, especially young people. However, the service appreciates that not all users fall into this category therefore over the summer term a new Approved School User Scheme is being introduced which is aimed at ensuring all school user groups provide the necessary documentary evidence to enable them to continue using school facilities in a safe and appropriate manner.
For further information on application forms for bookings along with guidelines and conditions of use please contact Melanie Marin the Community Use of Schools Officer on (01482) 392523 or email: melanie.marin@eastriding.gov.uk
