Operation Active Schools

Back in 2021, we launched ‘Operation Active Hampshire’ to invest in 10,000 hours of physical education and school sport delivery by 2025, engaging over 25,000 children. Following our 2024 expansion into Sussex, the programme became ‘Operation Active Schools’ (OAS).

As with everything we do, we set ambitious targets. The world post COVID was a different place, and in the years since restrictions were lifted, we’ve seen a huge shift in priorities and resources available for schools and organisations alike. While the programme itself still saw us engage with a huge number of children, these external changes naturally impacted our ability to meet these targets.

While our targets have evolved in response to external changes, our commitment to making a lasting impact remains.

It’s this commitment that led us to reassess our approach and engage in the services of Social Value Business (SVB), an organisation that helps businesses to understand their Social Value and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards to accelerate growth, inspire loyalty, win business and build reputation.

By working with SVB, we were able to see what value our services and reinvestments are currently adding to local communities, including from initiatives like Operation Active Schools, what more we could be doing, and how best to measure the impact of our commitments.

From this review, we were able to determine where our resources and efforts are best spent – and while Operation Active Schools may not be continuing, that doesn’t mean our investment into affordable provision has stopped. To find out where our focus lies now and what impact this will have on the communities we work with, take a look at the pledges and the key value indicators we will be reporting against.