Memorandum submitted by Leyton Orient
Community Sports Programme
Operating from offices at Leyton Orient Football
Club, the programme was initiated in May 1989 as a three-way partnership
between the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Sport England and
the football club. Due to the rapid growth of the programme it
became a registered charity and company limited by guarantee in
1997. Over the last eight years the organisation has grown to
three times the size both in terms of the number of staff employed
and annual turnover. The overall aim is to engage with and access
young people living across Northeast London who are traditionally
excluded from mainstream sports, leisure and educational opportunities.
We are currently running a range of innovative and creative sports
and educational projects in Waltham Forest, Newham, Hackney, Tower
Hamlets and Barking and Dagenham in partnership with a broad range
of agencies and funders from local authorities, regeneration agencies,
youth offending teams, and schools to Connexions, London's' Trusts
and the Home Office.
Over the past 15 years we have established a
comprehensive education and sports programme across Northeast
London. We have specialised in providing grassroots sports programmes
linked to education and training and have established a strong
network of partners and support. Sports development principles
underpin all of our sports work and we have now established strong
sporting opportunities from grassroots to excellence in football
and netball and are establishing opportunities in Basketball and
Tennis.
COMMUNITY BASED
DEVELOPMENT
We have been delivering and developing estates
and area based diversionary programmes across North and east London
since 1997. We currently run programmes in Barking, Leyton, Woodberry
Down, Stoke Newington Poplar, Shadwell, Isle of Dogs, Stratford
and Walthamstow offering a range of sporting and educational activities.
We tend to work in cluster areas where we offer a comprehensive
offer of school, after school and community based sessions. This
combines delivering education and sport programmes which lead
to the creation of competitive playing opportunities. Through
this work we also look to create the next generation of coaches
by recruiting from the local areas and integrating them into our
delivery programme. We have also established strong local networks
and partnerships ranging from professional service providers such
as schools, YOTS, DATS, youth crime diversion agencies and youth
workers through to neighbourhood management forums, Housing Associations
and the community and voluntary sector. In practical terms we
are currently delivering a minimum of 10 activity sessions per
week working with at least 20 young people per session.
Below are some examples of our area working:
Barking—We began working in the
borough in September 2000 delivering a Home Office diversion programme
in partnership with the Borough's diversion and youth agencies.
The target area was initially the Gascoigne estate in Barking
focusing on 10-19 year olds at risk of offending and drug related
behaviour. Four years into the programme of work a strong programme
offer and network of support has been put together including the
establishment of several football teams linked to educational,
training and employment opportunities. As part of this the main
team have gained some attention from the local and national press
and were made "citizens of the year" by the Barking
and Dagenham Post.
Woodberry Down—We began this Positive
Futures project in September 2000 on the Woodberry Down estate
focusing on delivering a comprehensive community and education
programme. This project has concentrated on delivering mixed ability
and gender netball and football sessions in the schools, setting
up after school and running termly inter schools football and
netball tournaments which have proved to be successful in terms
of the numbers attending. In addition we have also delivered our
classroom based "Learning Through Football" initiative
to the Primary schools in the area focusing on healthy lifestyles
and supporting the pupils literacy and numeracy skills. The broad
schools programme has enabled us to create an estates programme
as an exit route for the same young people. We have focused on
developing opportunities for girls specifically by starting up
basketball sessions that will lead to the formation of a club.
We have also formed a couple of estates based football teams who
as well as playing in our own inter estates leagues have progressed
to playing in an affiliated Essex League.
Isle of Dogs—As part of the Isle
of Dogs Community Foundation's "Confident Communities"
Programme, we have been delivering a comprehensive programme since
September 2000 involving all of the schools and many of the community
groups based in the area as well as focusing on young people form
the housing estates. Throughout this period, many young people
on the Island have received netball coaching during curriculum
time and after-school and have had the opportunity to compete
in a number of primary school tournaments at George Green's School.
The response from those taking part has been phenomenal and the
interest in netball has rapidly spread across the Island to areas
that haven't seen the game played for a generation. To channel
this enthusiasm and to further develop the potential a dedicated
Netball Club for the Island has been set up. The Club now have
a women's adult section for parents and teachers and a junior
section for boys and girls who have taken a shine to the sport.
As well as training, there are now three women's teams playing
regularly in local leagues.
Diversion Programme & Eastside FC—The
programme provides a range of activity-based education, training
and employment opportunities for (ex) offenders, young people
"at risk" of offending and those recovering from substance
abuse—who face barriers to accessing mainstream training
provision. Our staff supports participants closely, particularly
during their initial days on the projects. This allows clients
to settle into the activities whilst building a trusting, supportive
relationship with staff. This relationship is key when encouraging
participants, once settled, to gain qualifications—most
notably our own custom-made Open College Network (OCN) courses
that develop basic skills via the activities undertaken whilst
on the project. Participants are given support around training
and employment opportunities as part of the programme. In practice
we run sessions focusing on young adults (17+) who have been referred
by local agencies. The project has grown from a weekly three a-side
kick about, to a programme that runs Eastside FC who play in the
Essex Mid Week Business League and the Essex Business House League.
Stratford—We currently run a sports
and education package funded through Positive Futures in the Stratford
area This consists of coaching and matches at least two evenings
per week based at Stratford Park and at the Docklands Centre on
the Carpenters estate offering playing opportunities for up to
30 young people per session. This work has led to the formation
of informal teams for inter area, inter estate and inter borough
competition and tournaments. The programme is enhanced by offering
structured playing opportunities through the teams and moving
up the age group. We also offer daytime activity to engage with
up to 20 17-19 year olds including offering football training
and fitness sessions. We also run an education and sports programme
in the Stratford area where we are currently working with the
local secondary schools including Rokeby, Sarah Bonnell and Stratford,
through curriculum time and after school schemes of work. Each
school is receiving at least two hours of our programme per week
in girls football, athletics and netball. We have also delivered
an Open College Network football coaching course in Rokeby to
15 Year 10 boys. We will look to continue this type of work over
the coming year.
SPORTS BASED
DEVELOPMENT
Underpinning all of our community development
and education work is the commitment to providing good quality
sports development programmes and progression routes. Over the
past 15 years we have strengthened this area of work and now have
a strong team of officers and coaches who have the expertise and
knowledge to develop sporting opportunities in Tennis, Netball
and Basketball. However Football remains our core sporting activity
and we currently provide a number of progression routes stemming
from our schools, after school and holiday programmes. This includes
providing regular inter school and inter area football tournaments,
girls only secondary school leagues in Tower Hamlets and Waltham
Forest and at least 20 teams from the age of seven through to
adult, many of whom are from our estates and area based programmes,
player development centres and the Centre of Excellence for both
boys and girls. We also provide coaching for school district teams
and work with Tower Hamlets College in delivering a football academy.
We have over 20 Level Two and 7 Level Three coaches with three
of our staff qualified to deliver FA Level One courses as well
as four staff who can deliver CSLA courses and five staff that
can deliver Open College Network courses.
Grassroots Programme
In addition to our area and estates based football
programme we currently run a comprehensive football development
programme for 5-19 year olds across Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham
Forest and Epping Forest. This includes offering introductory
skills coaching to 5-7 year olds and Coerver coaching to 8-10
year olds. This is delivered in schools and at community venues
during curriculum time, after school clubs and through holiday
programmes. Through this programme we work with over 25,000 young
people a year.
Player Development
From the grassroots community sessions we have
developed a sophisticated progression routes with players who
show some ability. We currently run five player development centres
for 7-14 year olds working with at least 400 young people on a
weekly basis. To create regular playing opportunities we have
also established LOASS FC who run nine age group teams playing
in local leagues. This is in addition to the six area based teams
that come from our estates programme who also play in local leagues.
Centre Of Excellence
It has always been important for us to provide
as many playing opportunities for young people as possible and
to encourage them to fulfil their potential and go as far as they
can. Over the past three years therefore we have developed opportunities
for players who show exceptional talent. In 2001 we were awarded
Centre of Excellence status for girls and since then have established
four age groups and worked with 500 girls aged 10-16. We now have
one of the best centres operating in London with an experienced
team of staff offering not only high quality football coaching
but also sports science, fitness and nutrition packages. Through
this work we have also been able to strengthen our girls and women's
teams and currently have two reserve and one first team with players
who have come through our system.
To complete the football continuum, in 2003
we were offered the opportunity to operate and manage the Boys
Centre of Excellence on behalf of Leyton Orient. It was recognised
that we were in a strong position in terms of networks, access
and coaching structure to run the boys centre and that with the
11-16 year old players under our wing we would be able to offer
a complete package. We have since established a trading arm: Leyton
Orient Youth Development, who operate and manage both the boys
and girls centre of excellence.
For players 16 and over we have also developed
progression routes by firstly establishing six estates based teams
who all compete in local leagues, (the highest ranking playing
in the Middlesex League and seeking intermediate status). Secondly
we have established a strong link with Tower Hamlets College and
have established a Football Academy with them working with young
people who have come through our programme. The students are placed
on courses that fit their interest and ability and in exchange
receive coaching and playing opportunities with our staff. Thirdly
we have established a strong network of local semi professional
clubs who we refer players to on a regular basis. Again most of
these players have come through our estates programme with at
least 10 linked up with semi professional football clubs.
In essence therefore we have the structures,
knowledge and networks in place to ensure that if any player from
the estates based programme shows aptitude and ability then we
can help them fulfil their potential.
We have vast experience of organising and running
tournaments and leagues ranging from cluster area inter primary
school tournaments to 12-week football and Basketball Leagues.
Inter school tournaments—secondary school
leagues
For a number of years we have run inter school
tournaments in our areas of work. These competitions can bring
together anything from four to 15 schools. On the Isle of Dogs
for example we hold twice-termly tournaments in Netball and Football,
which regularly attracts eight local schools. For the past four
years we have also been running Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets
inter secondary school girl's leagues with eight schools and two
age groups competing in each. These run from September through
to March and offer hundreds of girls the opportunity to play competitive
football on a weekly basis.
Amalgamated Boroughs League (ABL)
The most ambitious league we created ran during
2004 in football and basketball and was based on similar summer
leagues that we have run since 2000. The ABL therefore brings
together young people from our projects in Tower Hamlets, Hackney,
Newham and Waltham Forest and Barking And Dagenham as well as
teams from projects closely linked with us including the Roma
Support Group from Newham and Village Club and Poplar Youth United
from Tower Hamlets. The football league ran for 16 weeks with
the Basketball league running for 8 weeks. In all over 400 young
people were taking part in the leagues every Sunday.
This League forms part of a broader network
of leagues and tournaments that we have established over the past
five years. Most take place during the holidays and are turn up
and play and some like the ABL have become fairly sophisticated.
We have also linked up with other partners including the London
Playing Fields Society and the Refugee Council and have established
a London wide Communities league, which has been running since
2003. This followed on from All Nations Festivals held during
2002 and 2003, which reached out to a number of refugee, asylum
seeking and ethnic minority communities. It is aimed at communities
that want to play organised football but do not have the skills
to join more formal leagues. Therefore a support package is offered
to each team as well as coach education and team organisation.
The League caters for adults as well as providing a more informal
league for 14 and 15 year olds. Many of our estates based teams
play in this league and we also support and chair the league and
use our resources and knowledge to support the teams.
The variety of leagues and tournaments that
we run as well as the links with the All Nations League and more
formal leagues means that we can join this up with the estates
based programme and offer comprehensive playing opportunities
for individuals and teams in Newham.
Tennis
We have been delivering an outreach tennis programme
in the Waltham Forest area since June 2002. We have also established
regular tennis coaching sessions held on Saturday mornings and
during the school holidays and offer curriculum time programmes
in the spring and summer terms. We have two fully qualified coaches
and have established a very strong link with the Essex LTA.
Netball
We began delivering Netball in 2000 predominantly
on the Isle of Dogs (as described previously) and in Hackney through
school and after school sessions, inter school tournaments and
the creation of a club on the Island. We currently also deliver
netball in Waltham Forest through the school sports coordinator
programme. We have two level Two and 3 Level One coaches as part
of our team. We have also established good links with the regional
Netball Association.
Basketball
We have used Basketball in a multi sports setting
for a number of years but brought in dedicated coaches two years
ago. Since then we have delivered coaching and set up school and
community sessions in Barking, Woodberry Down and the Isle of
Dogs. This led to the creation of an all communities summer league,
which was based in Barking but had representative teams from Newham,
Waltham Forest, Barking and Tower Hamlets. By holding this league
we widened our Basketball network and have made contact with a
number of clubs, umpires and coaches. We now have employed a full
time Basketball Officer who will develop the sport across our
areas.
SUPPORTING CLUB
DEVELOPMENT
An important part of our programme is establishing
regular competitive playing opportunities for young people who
traditionally would not have the opportunity. We have therefore
over the past 15 years set up and supported a number of teams
and clubs. These include:
Leyton Orient Women and Girls Football Club
When we first began we were interested in supporting
more girls and women to play football. Within Waltham Forest there
were very few playing opportunities and a couple of fledgling
clubs including Chingford Ladies. It was agreed that this team
would come under our wing and be developed accordingly. We therefore
provided coaching, access to facilities and capacity building
the committee. After 14 years the club now has three junior and
one senior team competing in local leagues, a strong committee
made up of parents and volunteers and its own sources of funding.
The links with us remain strong with officers providing support
and advice when needed. The club buy in our services including
coaching and some publicity and capacity building continues to
play an important part.
Clapton Orient Women's Football Club
Following the success of Leyton Orient it was
agreed that when we began to work in Hackney in 1992 one of the
legacies should be the creation of a borough representative side.
Unlike Waltham Forest there were keen individuals but no clubs
to build on and so for two years we ran regular women's only sessions,
created a team and set up a committee. By 1995 Clapton Orient
had been formed and nine years later the club continue to sustain
and thrive in the Greater London Leagues.
St John of Beverley Deaf Football Club
We began coaching a group of deaf adults based
in Hackney in 1996. This group soon formed a team and entered
both Deaf and over time, mainstream London leagues. Our current
role is to support and develop the club and its committee. This
has included applying firstly to Awards for All and then the Football
Foundation for club funding and training up players to become
coaches. The club currently has two men's and one women's team.
Island Netball Club
The Island Netball Club was formed in September
2001 and focused on running a junior section but within three
months a women's section had been created due to the interest
shown by local parents and female residents. In the summer of
2002 the club took part in its first tournaments and now regularly
plays in the Essex Met Saturday league. There are currently 60
women registered with 25 regularly attending and they have formed
their own committee and now have their own bank account. They
are currently being encouraged to move to the next level of paying
for training and facility hire with the longer-term aim of delivering
netball sessions in the schools. Currently three of the members
have been trained up to coach at level one standard and will begin
working in the schools in September.
Estates based teams
In the late 1990s we began to expand into working
with groups and individuals in the local areas who were deemed
at risk of offending and/or substance use. This work has allowed
us to develop programmes delivered in a range of areas and has
also led to the development of teams who play in regular Saturday
and mid week leagues. Each of the six teams created have established
at least two playing sides under and over 16 and are currently
in the process of setting up committees and independent status.
At least three players from each team have been trained up to
deliver coaching sessions. The longer-term aim is to enable each
of the teams to run the community sessions in the local areas
and to attract funding to sustain this work as well as the team.
LOCSP are currently spending some considerable time building this
level of confidence and expertise to achieve this aim. The teams
currently being developed include: Leyton All-stars; Eastside;
Woodberry Down, Portway Athletic and Gascogine Estate Crew. It
is envisaged that we would look to create teams from the Newham
commission and encourage those that are interested into coaching
and working back on the programme.
EDUCATION AND
TRAINING PROGRAMMES
Over the last seven years the education programme
developed by Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme has expanded
in its scope and depth of provision across North East London.
The first full time teacher was appointed in 1998 to deliver curriculum
projects such as "Learning Through Football" to schools
in Tower Hamlets and Hackney and also introduced afterschool study
support and holiday period educational activities. This form of
programme was also used in Waltham Forest, in particular on a
"bridging project" that linked a number of primary and
secondary schools in the South Leytonstone area.
Over the last three years a major afterschool
study support programme called "Playing for Success—Innovations"
has been run at the football club and has led to a second teacher
being employed. As part of this programme students attend five
literacy/numeracy and IT sessions in participating schools followed
by five sessions at an IT suite at the ground. This project is
now currently being expanded to full model status with a new IT
facility being incorporated into the new West Stand at the club.
During this period a "Healthy Lifestyles" project was
also delivered to many primary schools across Hackney and Waltham
Forest that combined workshop sessions with practical PE activities.
The last two years have also seen a large expansion
in the amount of 14-19 work that the Community Programme has developed.
A Football Industry projects combines a study of the industry
based on Leyton Orient FC with a coaching session in the afternoon
and several Open College Network qualifications have been written
especially for the project. The Community Programme has also run
Junior Sports Leaders and Community Sport Leaders Awards courses
to enable young adults to gain experience of leading sports sessions
themselves.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS
AND NETWORKS
At the heart of any of the work that we develop
is the need to have a good range of partners and networks. We
have therefore established a strong network of both sports and
non-sports partners who have assisted us in developing our work.
For example we have established strong links with the Sports Colleges
and school sports coordinator programme in both Waltham Forest
and Hackney and the SSCO Programme in Tower Hamlets alongside
non sporting partners such as the borough based YOTs, DATs and
youth services. From the many examples that we have the following
demonstrate best how networks and partnerships have worked.
London Community Sports Network
The London Community Sports Network is an initiative
that we have been developing over the past four years. It aims
to create an umbrella agency that supports development of the
voluntary sports and community sector in London. The Network has
further objectives, in working with community agencies that deliver
projects promoting equity and social inclusion and to perform
a pressure group function voicing grassroots concerns. Over the
past three years the Network has grown dramatically and has a
base of over 400 groups. Targeted work has also been carried out
with London East Connexions researching the strength and potential
of the community and sports sector in engaging with Connexions
target groups. Through the network, its members will be equipped
to respond and contribute to Government initiatives affecting
their local areas, such as Neighbourhood Renewal, access funding
for development, build partnerships with other agencies and have
a forum to discuss current issues.
The Score Project
Over the past five years we have been focusing
our efforts on developing the Score Project. This is an exciting
and ambitious concept which will provide essential new recreational,
sports and community facilities for the residents of Leyton, Leytonstone,
south east Hackney, Stratford and Walthamstow. It is one of the
first attempts nationally to bring to life the Social Exclusion
Unit's Policy Action Team 10 Report on how sport and the arts
can contribute to crime reduction, health awareness, educational
attainment and employability. SCORE will be a split site community
venue, located opposite Leyton Orient Football Ground on under
and disused local authority land. A community building will house
a variety of different activities including indoor sports, childcare,
disability services, youth provision, meeting spaces for local
groups, a community health centre and access to training and employment
services. In addition, there will be major upgrading and improvement
of existing football, tennis and bowls sporting facilities; multi
use games area and new children's play areas. The project's roots
lie in work undertaken in recent years by a number of local organisations,
which identified a real need for better quality and affordable
community facilities in an accessible location which would attract
communities historically under represented in terms of their sports
participation. The outreach work programmes designed around the
facility will support this approach with targeted programmes aimed
at young offenders, stable and ex drug users, excluded pupils,
refugees etc. The key partners for Sports Club Orient are English
Partnerships, O-Regen a community economic development agency,
the Primary Care Trust and a number of local community and sports
groups. The Football Foundation, Sport England Lottery Fund, Bridgehouse
Trust, ERDF and the PCT have all contributed funds adding up to
£10 million.
4 April 2005
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