A third of the targets that sports colleges must meet should be based on their work with local communities. Depending on local need, relevant targets are set for what the work should focus on. Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Sports College is a diverse community which aims to promote empowerment in the context of its location in an area of high deprivation. In previous years, the school was broken into several times and fires have been started on a factory site next to the school. These incidents have been linked to local young people not studying at the school. As a result, one of the targets for community work is to reduce youth crime.
A Community Sports Manager is employed to develop work with local communities and is a member of the Neighbourhood Partnership Forum for Youth Provision. Regular meetings take place with the youth service and Positive Futures project to plan youth provision across the area during weekdays (5.30 pm -10.00 pm), weekends and school holidays.
The college has commissioned a football and education programme on-site in conjunction with Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. The dusk, twilight and midnight leagues aim to reduce anti-social behaviour, prepare excluded young people for re-entering school and build skills that can be used in the workplace. As well as football coaching, attendees must engage in monthly workshops to develop interpersonal skills, gain careers advice and learn about the dangers of drug and alcohol use. Currently 70 local young people are registered with the schemes.
The Positive Futures project also runs activities, such as boxing, dance, football and fitness, on-site three times a week. Seventy-five young people are registered with the project and attendees are also given the opportunity to gain sports-related qualifications. During 2007, 12 young people attained a preliminary boxing accreditation and 15 achieved an FA level 1 football coaching qualification.
Between 2005 (when the school became a sports college) and 2008:
- criminal damage in the postcode area of the school has reduced by 23 per cent;
- the number of sports clubs based at the school has risen from 8 to 32, covering 11 different sports;
- the number of young people engaging regularly in a sports club has risen from 13 to 432; and
- the college has become a site for national governing body qualifications and courses, providing opportunities for the local community to develop skills to help future young people.