Message of the Month – September

It has been good to see so many of you at the recent sustainability workshops and to hear of the plans you are developing to sustain the work in your centres. The case studies presented at these workshops, and those appearing on the website, provide real insight into what is possible for centres in the future.

We know that these are still testing times. We are aware that many of you have been given ‘at risk of redundancy’ notices and appreciate the anxiety this is causing. RHA intends to continue the support to each of your centres through CF visits and also through CPD. We have received requests for assistance from those of you considering new career directions and will be offering support through a series of Webinars in the next few weeks. At national level, we are continuing meetings with sporting partners and potential funders, we are meeting with DfE following on from Michael Gove’s letter inviting us to work with his advisors and we hope to have appointed the funding officer by 15 October.

As yet, none of us have the detail on government plans for education, but it is clear that Pupil Premium and The Big Society are two key priorities. You can wait to hear the detail, or you can start pro-actively planning what this could mean for your locality and how your centre could address priorities.  Other positive activities include engaging fully with your local area by contacting and marketing your planned offer to schools, academies and other organisations and dicussions with your club, in particular its community department, to look at ways of strengthening the partnership, combining resources and planning new programmes for mutual benefit.

Finally, do keep us informed and let us know if there is additional support that you need from RHA at this time.

Best of luck!

Marian