Playing for Success (PfS) is a partnership between the Department for Education (DfE), local authorities and a broad range of sports. Partners include clubs and the Premier League and Football Leagues, Rugby League and Union, cricket, basketball, hockey, ice hockey, gymnastics and tennis. In all, 19 different sports are represented in PfS. Through Playing for Success, the DfE and partners are establishing study support centres within sports clubs’ grounds and sporting venues. Centres are vibrant, exciting and stimulating places for young people to learn. Students at the centres get up to speed in the key skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT – the foundation stones of their education. Tens of thousands of children have come out of the centres’ doors with improved skills, motivation and self-esteem, giving them a real boost and, in many cases, a new start on which they can build on back at school.

What do the centres do and how do they operate?

The centres open out of school hours and mainly cater for 10 to 14 year olds who are at risk of underachieving, using the stimulus of sport to motivate them. Each centre is managed by a centre manager (an experienced teacher), supported by tutor/mentors and other support staff, and centres provide access to state of the art IT equipment. Typically, each student receives 20 hours of tuition.

Learning programmes include:

• Literacy and numeracy activities using sport as a theme
• Training in the use of IT
• Sessions to improve study and learning skills
• Sport as a route to other knowledge, skills and understanding 
(for example statistics, geography, history and science)
• Opportunities for support and homework.