Community Use

Community access to school facilities is now a widespread practice in our schools, and your BSF plans should consider the future potential for community access as well as accommodating current third party users.

See our Consultation section for further details on the best way to address community needs.

Who do we mean by the Community? Parents, people who live and work nearby, established community and voluntary groups, feeder primary schools, clubs etc.

Early on in the process you will be required to identify which spaces will be accessed by the community, and in your output specifications you will need to stipulate hours and days of community access. Don't forget school holidays and weekends and consider seasonal variations particularly for outdoor provision which is not floodlit. Try to build in as much flexibility as possible to allow for future provision and changes in lifestyles and working patterns.

For help with specifying the design requirements of your community spaces visit our design help pages

There is lots of advice available, some of which can be accessed from the following links:

Information about extended schools including legal advice: www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/
www.continyou.org.uk/

Health & safety advice for PE and Sport activities in school: www.afpe.org.uk

Advice for club standards and running clubs for volunteers: www.sportengland.org/index/get_resources

The following documents have also been provided by Barnsley and Kirklees Council as examples of dual use documentation, which you may choose to adapt for your own use. Special thanks to Ruth Pawson and Amy Woodhead for sharing this information.

We have also provided Case Studies highlighting different approaches to community access.