Friday 21st June 2013

Premier Sport has been accepted as a Business Associate with AfPE (Association for Physical Education).

AfPE's Business Associate scheme is designed to:

• Recognise high quality providers who support PE & Sport professionals to achieve the best outcomes for young people.
• Work in partnership with afPE in a variety of activities to achieve the above.
• Promote providers who are Business Associates to the PE & Sport profession.

The accreditation means Premier Sport and the network benefit from a variety of opportunities including:

• The use of the afPE Business Associate logo on any promotional literature you produce.
• Copy of your logo and company details in each edition of afPE's journal - Physical Education Matters.
• Invitations to selected afPE events/celebrations/awards.
• Preferential rates for exhibition space at the afPE National Conference.
• Advance alerts for exhibition opportunities at afPE conferences, seminars and CPD events.
• Termly copies of afPE's journal - Physical Education Matters and 5 x annual copies of Physical Education and Sports Pedagogy (PESP).
• Opportunity to meet with the afPE Senior Management Team.
• Preferential advertising rates in Physical Education Matters.

For more information on afPE please visit www.afpe.org.uk

As UKactive begin to expand their reach into the schools sector, Premier Sport have been invited to join a working group to help shape their policy and messaging into schools.

The group will consist of the following members:

• Premier Sport (Luke Miles)
• Academy school networks – ARK, AET
• Three senior Head Teachers
• Representative from DfE
• Representative from AfPE
• Everyone Active (Michelle Bletsoe)
• Virgin (Anita de Villiers)
• Esporta

For more information on UKactive and its members please visit www.ukactive.com

This month we submitted our annual report to the Department of Health as part of our commitment to the responsibility deal. As you’re aware we are currently committed to three pledges with the department of health including:  

P1. Physical Activity: Community

"We will use our local presence to get more children and adults more active, more often including engaging communities in planning and delivery."

P5. Physical Activity Inclusion

"We will tackle the barriers to participation in physical activity faced by some of the most inactive groups in society."

And our own pledge of providing 1000 schools with a Health and Physical Activity evaluation day worth £150.

To view our annual report please visit www.responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk

From September all printed stock will be processed through HQ, the move has been prompted by the our new Corporate Responsibility agenda and the need to be FSC and Carbon balanced accredited. This small step is part of a much wider CR agenda which you will be able to communicate to all your schools and stakeholders. The blue print for this agenda and the business benefits will be available from September.

This week saw the launch of the brand new COMPASS, website detailing all the member and school benefits. Following a strategic communications review with key COMPASS members earlier this week, the website and digital  channels will play a key factor in raising awareness of the organisation and its partners.

To view the website visit www.compassassociation.org.uk

You can also follow COMPASS CEO on twitter @COMPASS_Martin

As we reach the end of June and the Summer Holiday are nearing ever closer, it’s imperative that you have planned in good time for the production and distribution of  your leaflets. We’ve had some franchisees request leaflets as late as this week for promotion of their summer activity. Consideration also need to be given to the lead time of production of artwork which is currently a maximum of two weeks.

Octobers Halloween themed literature will be available to order from the shop in early July.

If you want support in delivering your literature Neal Dodd at the Letterbox Consultancy can help you plan your distribution strategy.

For more information please download the PDF.

The Premier Sport Website is continuing to perform beyond expectations with a 25% rise in traffic in comparison to last year. With the continued development and investment into all of the groups digital platforms we foresee that this pleasing trend will continue.

Due to feedback and the expanding demands of the network, we will be introducing a number of new items to the kit range, including a traditional tracksuit top and a light weight jacket.

We are currently working through the designs with the manufacturers and the items will be available to order from the shop later in the year.

If you have any specific requirements regarding kit please email [email protected]

We are pleased to announce a new ambassador to Premier Sport, former Great Britain Water Polo captain Craig Figes. He was described as the 'most gifted British player in a generation'; Craig was selected as Team GB's captain in 2007 for the LEN European Nations Trophy. The team performed incredibly well and finished sixth overall. Craig has captained the squad ever since before retiring. His biggest honour was captaining Team GB for their Water Polo Olympic debut at London 2012.

Craig’s grandmother was a swimming world record holder and whose mother swam at the 1966 Commonwealth Games. Craig who resides in Bristol has been a key community worker in schools since retiring from competitive sport.

For more details about how you can have Craig come to your school please email [email protected]

As of the 1st July, Amy who has been working in the department for over a year will no longer be with us, as she moves onto a new career. We would like to thank Amy for all her hard work and effort she has put into the department and wish her well in the future. 

We will be actively seeking a replacement for the position of Marketing Assistant, and will keep you informed as to who and when the new person will be in the post.

As mentioned in last month’s newsletter the new central email address to the marketing department is proving a success and more efficient way of dealing with enquiries. And again we request that all initial enquiries go to [email protected] where it will be picked up and responded to by the appropriate person.

Emails sent to individuals within the department will be bounced back to this address to be processed.

As referenced in last month’s news we have set up a number of summer promotions with national newspapers. We currently have two promotions running with The Sun and The Times, the promotional details can be found by clicking the links.

The Sun promotion – “Free Chewits Sports Course Sessions with The Sun”
The Times – “2 for 1 Chewits Sports Course Sessions with The Times”

For  any further information on these promotions please email [email protected]

The latest round of Vanguard papers have been circulated giving you the latest opinion and industry insight.

You can view the papers here:

• DBS Update Service
• DCMS Sporting Legacy
• NICE Physical Activity
• School Sport Debate

As part of our corporate responsibility programme, we are currently benchmarking Premier Sport's community investment totals for the past year (Sept 2012 to date). This overall figure will be used to our community investment targets for 2013/14 and used within our internal and external communications to evidence that we are serious about our investing time and energy in our local communities.

We are aware that our networks have a large impact within our communities therefore we are speaking to you directly to make sure we capture your community investment activities too. We have created a short survey for you to complete, your input is very valuable to help us provide a true reflection of the great work that we do.

To ensure that we are able to report on this more accurately in the future, we will request this information from you on a quarterly basis as understandably there may be things that you do that gets forgotten about. If you have any questions or if you are not sure if something that you are thinking about would be classed as community investment, please contact Becky – [email protected]