School Club Links

School Club Links

Establishing links between schools & clubs brings

School club links create opportunity in your community

Most communities do not know what clubs are in their area - so working with local schools is a great way to ensure that children & young people in your area know about opportunities to participate at your club.

School Club Links encourage young people to take part in sporting and physical activity. It allows youngsters to try out new sports and feel comfortable in a club setting, making them more likely to continue participating in sport once they leave school.

FA Charter Standard Clubs all have to form a link with a school as part of the process of securing their Charter Standard status too.

For a school looking to develop your community links, this is a great place to start!

SCL - Club Benefits

SIPP 1 - Club Benefits

Local club looking for more players in your area? Learn more about the benefits of links with your local schools, including:

  • Increased participation in the club
  • Increased potential to recruit new volunteers
  • Raised profile within the community
  • Opening up club access to wider community
  • Opportunity to share facilities and equipment
SCL - School Benefits

SIPP 2 - School Benefits

Local school looking to develop community links? Find out how links with your local club can inspire young people to get involved in sport, resulting in:

  • More active and healthier pupils
  • Raised profile within the community
  • Increased funding opportunities
  • Community Links – social benefits
  • Pathways for sport – easy exit routes for children into on-going involvement
Youth Player Benefits

SIPP 3 - Youth Player Benefits

What do strong school club links mean for young players in your local area?

  • Improved opportunities to access sport in the local community
  • Opportunity for talent to be identified and nurtured
  • Wider range of sporting opportunities
  • Move easily between safe and familiar environment of school and club
  • Understand how experiences in school and at the club complement each other
FAQs

A School Club link is an agreement between a school and a community-based sports club to work together to meet the needs of young people; providing new and varied opportunities for sport and physical activity.

The easiest way to set up a school club link to ensure there is a designated contact for both parties. This makes it easier for both the school and club to share information and develop the relationship between the school and club. The link should help to develop football opportunities both within education and the community for the benefit of young people. To help support this, you could also work with the County FA to identify the closest partner to create this link.

To find out contact details for a school, we suggest you look up their website as there will be contact details there for you to use. For schools looking to find contact details for a club we recommend that you use the find a club feature on our homepage and enter a postcode close to where the club is based. This should then show you the contact details of a club secretary.

One way which can help you to do this is to make sure all coaches are FA Enhanced CRC checked and are aware of the various safeguards concerning youth football. They should also be aware of any health and safety requirements and should look to raise any safety concerns with the venue provider at the first instance.

The link should help to promote football opportunities for all young people within the school and/or club. A good way of doing this is to look for your local FA Charter Standard Club who should actively promote inclusivity. The link may also look to support young people who want to be involved in football but away from playing the game. Volunteering opportunities are readily available in both school and club programmes and should be encouraged to strengthen the school/club link.

Derbyshire County FA are more than happy to provide support to schools and clubs to help set up a link and can provide additional resource to aid this from the FA Skills programme (Primary Education) and the FA Secondary Schools Programme (Secondary Education). From a club point of view, the school club link will be beneficial for FA Charter Standard status and health checks.

Get In Touch

Callum Convery | Football Development Officer

Phone: 01332 361422

Email: callum.convery2@derbyshirefa.com

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