Friday 8th November 2013

We'd like to thank all the franchise champions for spending the last few weeks testing the new planning framework, which is now available for the entire network to use. The feedback we've received has been really positive and a number of you have already been using the facility.

The testing process has also provided us with insight on how we can develop it further to enhance the user experience. We will be introducing these enhancements over the coming days and will make you aware of any developments as they happen.

A couple of questions have also come from franchisees, which we have answered below:

What next?

The next part of the project to be made available is the Schools Portal, heads and teachers will be able to view the attainment records for themselves. Testing on this part of the site is currently being carried out and will be available within the next week.

On the 7th April our partners at ukactive hosted their annual summit in London. The event outlined ukactive's strategy for the next 12 months and the potential impacts on the sector as a whole. A common theme from all of the guest speakers, including Jane Ellison MP was the shift in attitudes to prevention rather than cure. Encouraging words also came from Andy Burnham MP, who highlighted the pivotal role 'coaches' play in providing quality sport and physical activity.

Who holds the purse strings?

Funding for physical inactivity clearly sits with the DoH and centrally we have been exploring ways we can influence this agenda. Recently this has included presenting our offer to the Department of Health and more specifically, representatives from the Children and Young People's Health Improvement department. We will continue to represent the network and raise awareness at national level, but we're also supporting you at a local level and have met with representatives of the public health board for a local council tender.

We recommend you find out who your local public health board representative are as they have accesses to funding which can support school projects.

If you want support in this area please email [email protected]

For those of wanting to find out a bit more information prior to visiting school a useful tool is the Ofsted website and specifically the school's data dashboard.

This directory allows you to view all schools and their Ofsted classification over time. This is a really useful tool to help you develop your pitch ahead of meeting with schools to discuss their requirements.

Premier Sport Ambassador, Paul Sculthorpe MBE pulled in a bumper crowd in the North West at a brand new Chewits Sports Course. Paul joined over 40 children from St Helens in what was a real treat for the children who live in one of the most deprived areas in the country.

The course, organised by Dan Worthington was the first of its kind to be held at the school and given the enthusiasm shown by the children we're sure it won't be the last.

"The school and the area have its challenges, a high proportion of the kids come from single parent families. It was great to see the kids having fun and being able to meet a St Helens legend," comments Dan

The appearance was the final one in a series of appearances which has generated local and national press coverage, including being featured in four of the UK's biggest papers.

"I am very happy to be working with you at the UK's largest franchise sports company.

"I have always been passionate about the sport industry, mainly because we promote a product that offers better quality of life by promoting healthy living through physical activity.

"I have been working in the sport industry for more than five years with international brands such as Life Fitness, Les Mills and Sportlife; the latter being the largest fitness centre chain in Chile with 43 clubs.

"During this time I created and implemented marketing plans and strategies, created commercial alliances with internationals brands and undertook re-branding for Sportlife and Life Fitness. I developed commercial and marketing strategies for new product development by introducing new marketing strategies and managing new sales teams for each new product.

"My experience managing the marketing for those 43 clubs taught me in particular the importance of having constant communication and reviews with franchisees. Successful franchisees will strengthen the brand ultimately increasing profitability and market share.

"I am very much looking forward to working with you all."

Francisco Rosas

In order to process queries relating to shop order more effectively, it would assist Liz greatly if you could put the relevant order ID in the subject line. This will enable Liz to locate the order in question and give a speedy response. In the majority of cases, we send our response on the same day. However, we endeavour to reply to all enquiries within 48 hours.

Delivery Times

Where possible, please allow enough time in the run up to your holiday courses when ordering items you need. We aim to despatch orders within 48 hours but it is good to remember that our delivery service is also 48 hours. For a small surcharge, we can despatch items out on a 24 hour service; to do this you would need to contact us directly with details of the shop order so we can raise an invoice and take payment for the additional delivery charge.

With the new addition and expanding team it’s really important that your emails find the right person. As mentioned in previous newsletters, please send all queries to [email protected], this allows us to put your query to the right person in the business and answer it promptly.

To encourage and increase the flow of news from across the network, we are incentivising you to send through your good news stories. These can relate to where your business or coach has gone the extra mile to help a school or local community. It could be that you are able to evidence how your business has changed the pathway of a young person by increased self-esteem, or simply because you received an extra special thank you from a customer.

Each eligible story we receive will be published on our Facebook and Twitter pages enabling us to measure the impact of each story respectively.

The two news stories below were submitted to [email protected] last month:

Peter Bennett, franchisee in Essex and Colchester submitted the following story:

"Green fingered sports coaches go over and beyond call of duty"

The story was uploaded to our Facebook and Twitter pages along with a picture resulting in a total 'reach' of 620 people with 6 'likes' and 3 'retweets'.

Dan Worthington, franchisee in St Helens submitted:

"Premier Sport help young sports enthusiast beat the bullies"

So far this story has reached 500 people with 14 'likes', 1 'share' and 2 'retweets'.

Each term the franchisees that provide the top three news stories will receive £100, £50 and £25 worth of vouchers to be used on the online store. Please submit your good new stories by 31 December to [email protected] and stand a chance of winning the top prize.

School governors are volunteers who help run a school. They're involved in decisions about all aspects of managing the school - such as running buildings and budgets, supporting staff and setting standards of school discipline.

We have two school governors within our network who have said that being a school governor brings the following advantages to their business:

• Having an insight into what schools want.
• Understanding what school budgets look like.
• Being able to talk to schools in a language they understand and can relate to.
• Being a recognised member of a school team.

There are many rewarding benefits for you and your business; however, being a school governor is not a commitment that should be taken lightly.

Click here if you would like to find out more...