Background
What was the starting point?
Emerson Park School is an 11 to 16 mainstream comprehensive school in the London Borough of Havering. The school decided to capitalise on its strength in PE and apply to become a
Sports College, under the Specialist Schools programme. Part of the requirement is that each Sports College has a funded community programme that answers a specific need in the
community. It was decided by the school to investigate the feasibility of providing sporting opportunities for disabled sports people. Consultation with non-school community
partners(we also have a programme in which we work with our partner schools) began in the summer of 2003.
An audit of local opportunities was undertaken revealing only limited availability of such clubs locally. Discussions involving a group that had attempted to set up a similar venture, highlighted the difficulties of recruitment and the need for an exit route to a senior squad.
Contact with Disability Sport England led to Tim Wood, of London Sports Forum for Disabled
People, visiting the school. He was able to bring a tighter focus and identified an issue concerning soccer for people with cerebral palsy.
A group of interested parties brought together at the school by LSFDP reviewed existing facilities
at the school and discussed the feasibility of setting up sporting opportunities for disabled people.
Representatives of neighbouring LEA's, SCOPE and Emerson Park School (EPS) developed the proposal.
Subsequently, Essex FA were able to confirm that the plans were in line with the latest FA policy.
The school was granted Specialist School status to start in September 2004.
What was the school/partnership trying to achieve?
- Set up a football club specifically for ambulant players who have cerebral palsy. There would be monthly meetings in the first year for players in the age group 11 to 16.
- Develop an independent and sustainable club run by its members. This would entail the involvement of a number of sponsors and volunteers.
- Establish a model for the extending the initiative once the CP club was in place.
- Build a centre of excellence for CP football with high quality (FA accredited) coaching and exit routes that would feed players through to the national squad. A key part of this would be encouraging the growth of other teams that would provide our club members with meaningful and ‘fair’ competitive matches.
- Add to the coaching pool by sponsoring club members/volunteers through Level 1 & 2 coaching courses.
- Establish a programme to monitor and raise fitness levels.
- Ensure that facilities developed at the school supported the short and long term aims of this initiative and that the club drew on other development areas identified by the school: provide access to the fitness suite and provide high quality opportunities for individuals emerging from the Sports Leader Awards schemes. This scheme is well established in Emerson Park School and more young people will be involved through similar schemes set up at our partner schools.