Open Doors is a programme that focuses on engaging young people during a time when they often have no access to positive facilities and safe spaces to be physically active by unlocking school facilities for use. Open Doors provides coaching and mentoring to young people during the school holiday period to ensure they have access to local delivery and engagement opportunities.
To support the development, refinement, and scalability of Open Doors over the years, the ukactive Research Institute implemented a mixed method research approach.
February 2020 pilot
Open Doors was initially piloted in the summer holidays of August 2019. The first pilot of the evaluation was conducted in February 2020 and involved qualitative evaluation, through focus groups.The focus groups explored the participants thoughts and feeling towards their participation and focused on social interactions, mental wellbeing, physical activity, and the Open Doors pilot. Results revealed that some of the benefits young people experienced from participating in the programme was having and seeing positive role models, making changes to their daily routines, increased movement, social interaction and confidence.
The report can be found here
Summer 2020 – Summer 2021
Following the success of the February 2020 pilot Open Doors was commissioned for delivery in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester as part of a collaborative delivery model funded by various parties including GLA/VRU, Nike, Holiday Activities and Food Fund – DfE, Opening School Facilities – Sport England/Active Partnerships network and the City of Birmingham School.
To measure and understand the potential impact of the Open Doors programme over this span of time, a mixed methods approach was undertaken. This included combining registration and throughput data with questionnaires to collect outcomes data, and focus groups to explore areas of interest in more detail. Focus groups were conducted with children, deliverers, teachers and other key stakeholders.
Across the full delivery between Summer 2020 and Summer 2021, there were over 5,000 attendances by young people who had access to safe spaces in local communities to be inspired through the power of sport. The feedback and data received highlight the positive experiences these young people are receiving during school holidays, often at a time when they have no access to positive role models, enriching environments and safe spaces.
The report for this year can be found here
Summer 2022
Open Doors was recomissioned for delivery across London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester by Nike for the Summer of 2022. In 2022, the aim of the measurement, learning and evaluation process was to understand the lived experiences of the young people taking part in the Open Doors programme. This was undertaken by exploring experiences provided through Open Doors alongside day-to-day experiences outside of the programme. To do this, the ukactive Research Institute adopted a qualitative approach, through interviews, focus groups and ad-hoc conversations and observations with children and young people on the Open Doors programme throughout the summer.
Over the summer, 737 children and young people participated in Open Doors across four regions and 10 schools. Building on findings from previous years, the areas that were particularly important to the lived experiences of the young people taking part in Open Doors included the opportunities to socially interact, have new experiences and reduce boredom, prepare for the new school year ahead, be in a space that is familiar and safe.
The report for 2022 can be found here
Summer 2023
Open Doors continue its delivery in 2023, but this year no evaluation is being conducted.