Rob Shaw – Amber Valley School Sport Partnership CIO

In Camps

Summer Holiday Camps – what you need to know!

05/07/2025

AVSSP Summer Holiday Camps – What you need to know!

During the Summer Holidays in 2025 AVSSP are able to offer our extremely popular Holiday Camps once again!

Offering hundreds of children each day the chance to take part in sports, games, arts & craft, swimming and much more our camps are extremely popular and offer a great way to have fun, make new friends and be physically active!

When: Monday 28th July – Friday 22nd August (8:30am – 3:00pm excl. weekends)

Where: Ripley Leisure Centre & William Gregg VC Leisure Centre Heanor & Belper Leisure Centre & Alfreton Leisure Centre

Who: Children aged 5 -11 years of age

How to book: Click here to access our booking page.

Details: Places are charged at £20 per day, per child.

What do I need to bring: A packed lunch and drink, swimming kit, sports clothing and suitable footwear (lunch provided for funded places).
Please also dress for the weather, pack a jumper for if your child gets cooler or ensure their have applied sun cream and wear a hat in the warmer weather.

What you need to know:

AVSSP holiday camps will run from 08:30am to 15:00pm Mon-Fri, first day being Mon 28th July. Our activities include various sports, games and physical activities as well as arts & crafts, games and enrichment activities.

Eligibility – Holiday camps are open to children aged 5 – 11. Places are limited and children cannot attend without a pre-booked place.

Clothing – Please be aware that all of our camps are sports based and your child will be partaking in activities that require them to be physically active. They should come to us dressed in appropriate sporting attire that they will be comfortable in for the day. Footwear such as trainers need to be worn as there may be both indoor and outdoor activities. If you child is not in appropriate clothing then they may not be able to participate in certain activities.

Swimming Kit– You the customer are responsible for ensuring that if your child is attending a venue in which we offer a swimming session (Alfreton LC, Heanor LC, Belper LC and Ripley LC) then your child will require appropriate swim wear and their own towel. This must be brought in a named bag. If your child comes without a swimming kit they will not be allowed to participate in this session. If your child cannot swim or doesn’t want too every effort will be made to allow them to join in a different activity however this may not always be possible.

Timetables – throughout each day children will take part in a range of sports, games, arts & crafts as well as swimming, gymnastics, inflatables and even bowling at selected sites. Timetables are not available to parents in advance due to the changeable nature of leisure centre facility access and staff preferences.

Participation – if on occasion your child does not want to take part in the timetabled activity they will be encouraged but not forced to take part. If possible they will be allowed to join a different activity, however this may not always be possible.

Packed Lunch – All children will need to bring a pack lunch with them and a drink, we are able to refill water bottles if needed. Please ensure you do not pack any nuts. 🥜 (lunch provided for funded places)

Medical needs, Allergies & Medication – if your child has any allergies or medical needs you MUST make us aware of them through your booking form. You may be asked additional questions either in advance or on arrival about how we can support your child. Please note AVSSP WILL NOT administer medication or make any medical assessment of your child – we are able to store medication for those children able to self-administer.

Illness & COVID-19 – if your child is presented symptoms of COVID-19 or is generally unwell please do not send them to camp to avoid spreading any illnesses onto children and staff. Please inform staff via holidaycamps@avssp.co.uk. Full refunds will be offered where applicable if attendees act in accordance with our cancellation policy below.

Partner Sites – at all sites we may utilise partner facilities in short walking distance of the advertised centre. Details of these venues and appropriate risk assessments can be found here.

Lost Property – Each venue will keep a lost property box throughout the school holiday period – any items not collected by the end of the period will be donated to local charity shops.

Signing In/Out – A parent/carer/guardian must be present at drop off and collection. An adult will need to sign in with a member of staff to ensure the correct details are on register with us, upon collection our staff member will check to ensure each child is collected by the adult on register*.
*If a child is to be collected by someone else this information must be made known to us upon signing in.

Leaving early/Arriving late – you are welcome to arrive later than 9am or collect earlier than 3pm should you wish. Please inform staff in advance or on arrival so we know to expect you. Please note partial refunds will not be available in this scenario.

Behaviour – AVSSP have a responsibility to ensure all children are safe and able to enjoy their day. If a child is breaching our expected code of behaviour parents/guardians will be contacted and in some rare instances will be expected to collect children early and in even rarer instances may have future bookings cancelled.

Cancellations – All cancellations must be made directly in writing to holidycamps@avssp.co.uk in advance notice of 48 hours prior to the start date of your booking. Should you need to cancel a booking with us after this point please call 07555 697591 and speak to a member of our team.

No Show Policy – Please be aware that you have an obligation to notify us of any changes or cancellations to your bookings with us. We would appreciate as much notice of these as possible to enable us to complete your requests promptly

❌🥜Please ensure you do not send your child with any nuts. 🥜❌

Venues

Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church Street, Alfreton, DE55 7BD

Registration: Bowls Hall entrance located at the bottom of the leisure centre car park

Collection: Bowls Hall entrance located at the bottom of the leisure centre car park

Ripley Leisure Centre, Derby Road, Ripley, DE5 3HR

Registration: Main Leisure Centre entrance

Collection: Main Leisure Centre entrance – exit via fire exit

William Gregg VC Leisure Centre, Hand’s Road, Heanor DE75 7HA

Registration: Main Leisure Centre entrance – sign in at the Sportshall (downstairs)

Collection: Main Leisure Centre entrance – collect from the Sportshall (downstairs) exit via fire exit into car park.

Belper Leisure Centre, John O’Gaunts Way, Belper, DE56 0DA

Registration: Sports Hall Entrance (located inside the leisure centre)

Collection: Sports Hall Entrance (located inside the leisure centre)

Thank you 💙

In Uncategorised

Our Partnership with CIMPSA – Develop, Support, Inspire

24/02/2025

AVSSP are proud to announce our partnership with The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMPSA).

CIMSPA is the professional development body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector and a registered charity, committed to supporting, developing and enabling professionals and organisations to succeed and, as a result, inspire our nation to become more active. The organisation helps to nurture talent, develop careers, inspire professionalism and set clear regulatory standards for success, continuing the development of a modern, prosperous and respected sport and physical activity sector.

The Chartered Institute of Sport and Physical Activity received its Chartered status in 2013. Prior to this, the organisation was referred to as the Institute of Sport and Physical Activity, commonly abbreviated to IMSPA.

Their mission is to:

Allow individuals to realise their potential by having a clear route into and through our sector.
Provide employers with the best people.
Ensure the availability of quality and relevant learning and development opportunities.
Be the lead organisation on sport and physical activity workforce policy.
Give the public increased confidence in a professional, respectable sector.

How will CIMPSA affect our work at AVSSP?

CIMPSA will help us to grow and develop our company, skills and abilities in order to ensure the best delivery of our work in schools and around the community. We are always looking to improve within ourselves and our organisation in order to achieve the best possible outcomes from our work and to implement a happier, healthier and more active lifestyle within our community.

We look forward to working with CIMPSA 💙

In Camps

AVSSP Summer Holiday Camps – What you need to know!

21/10/2024

We would like to thank each and everyone of you for booking onto one of our camps across the next four weeks and look forward to welcoming you on our camps very shortly.

We’re offering hundreds of children each day the chance to take part in sports, games, arts & craft, swimming and much more our camps are extremely popular and offer a great way to have fun, make new friends and be physically active!

When: Monday to Friday, 28th Jul – 1st Aug , 4th – 8th Aug, 11th – 15th Aug and 18th – 22nd Aug

Times: 8:30am – 3:00pm

Where: Alfreton Leisure Centre, Belper Leisure Centre, Ripley Leisure Centre & William Gregg VC Leisure Centre

Who: Children aged 5 -11 years of age

How to book: Click here to access our booking page.

Details: Places are charged at £20 per day, per child

What do I need to bring: A packed lunch and drink (lunch provided for funded places), swimming kit, sports clothing and footwear

What you need to know

AVSSP holiday camps will run from 08:30am to 15:00pm Mon-Fri, first day being Mon 28th July and concluding on Fri 22nd August. Our activities include various sports, games and physical activities as well as arts & crafts, games and enrichment activities.

Eligibility – Holiday camps are open to children aged 5 – 11. Places are limited and children cannot attend without a pre-booked place.

Clothing – Please be aware that all of our camps are sports based and your child will be partaking in activities that require them to be physically active. They should come to us dressed in appropriate sporting attire that they will be comfortable in for the day. Footwear such as trainers need to be worn as there may be both indoor and outdoor activities. If you child is not in appropriate clothing then they may not be able to participate in certain activities.

Swimming Kit- You the customer are responsible for ensuring that if your child is attending a venue in which we offer a swimming session (Alfreton LC, Belper LC, Heanor LC and Ripley LC) then your child will require appropriate swim wear and their own towel. This must be brought in a named bag. If your child comes without a swimming kit they will not be allowed to participate in this session. If your child cannot swim or doesn’t want too every effort will be made to allow them to join in a different activity however this may not always be possible.

Timetables – throughout each day children will take part in a range of sports, games, arts & crafts as well as swimming, gymnastics, inflatables and even bowling at selected sites. Timetables are not available to parents in advance due to the changeable nature of leisure centre facility access and staff preferences.

Participation – if on occasion your child does not want to take part in the timetabled activity they will be encouraged but not forced to take part. If possible they will be allowed to join a different activity, however this may not always be possible.

Packed Lunch – Children will need to bring a pack lunch with them and a drink (lunch provided for funded places), we are able to refill water bottles if needed.. Please ensure you do not pack any nuts. 🥜

Medical needs, Allergies & Medication – if your child has any allergies or medical needs you MUST make us aware of them through your booking form. You may be asked additional questions either in advance or on arrival about how we can support your child. Please note AVSSP WILL NOT administer medication or make any medical assessment of your child – we are able to store medication for those children able to self-administer.

Illness & COVID-19 – if your child is presented symptoms of COVID-19 or is generally unwell please do not send them to camp to avoid spreading any illnesses onto children and staff. Please inform staff via holidaycamps@avssp.co.uk. Full refunds will be offered where applicable if attendees act in accordance with our cancellation policy below.

Partner Sites – at all sites we may utilise partner facilities in short walking distance of the advertised centre. Details of these venues and appropriate risk assessments can be found here.

Lost Property – Each venue will keep a lost property box throughout the school holiday period – any items not collected by the end of the period will be donated to local charity shops.

Signing In/Out – A parent/carer/guardian must be present at drop off and collection. An adult will need to sign in with a member of staff to ensure the correct details are on register with us, upon collection our staff member will check to ensure each child is collected by the adult on register*.
*If a child is to be collected by someone else this information must be made known to us upon signing in.

Leaving early/Arriving late – you are welcome to arrive later than 9am or collect earlier than 3pm should you wish. Please inform staff in advance or on arrival so we know to expect you. Please note partial refunds will not be available in this scenario.

Behaviour – AVSSP have a responsibility to ensure all children are safe and able to enjoy their day. If a child is breaching our expected code of behaviour parents/guardians will be contacted and in some rare instances will be expected to collect children early and in even rarer instances may have future bookings cancelled.

Cancellations – All cancellations must be made directly in writing to holidycamps@avssp.co.uk in advance notice of 48 hours prior to the start date of your booking. Should you need to cancel a booking with us after this point please call 07864 775023 and speak to a member of our team.

No Show Policy – Please be aware that you have an obligation to notify us of any changes or cancellations to your bookings with us. We would appreciate as much notice of these as possible to enable us to complete your requests promptly.

❌🥜Please ensure you do not send your child with any nuts. 🥜❌

Venues

Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church Street, Alfreton, DE55 7BD

Registration: Bowls Hall Entrance

Collection: Bowls Hall Entrance

Belper Leisure Centre, John O’Gaunts Way, DE56 0DA

Registration: Main Leisure Centre entrance

Collection: Main Leisure Centre entrance

Ripley Leisure Centre, Derby Road, Ripley, DE5 3HR

Registration: Main Leisure Centre entrance

Collection: Main Leisure Centre entrance – exit via fire exit

William Gregg VC Leisure Centre, Hand’s Road, Heanor DE75 7HA

Registration: Basement entrance – sign in at the Sportshall (downstairs)

Collection: Basement entrance – collect from the Sportshall (downstairs) exit via fire exit into car park.

Thank you 💙

In Uncategorised

Gladiator Steel takes on Amber Valley!

07/07/2023

During the Spring Term, AVSSP have had the pleasure of working with British athlete and television personality Zack George, otherwise known as STEEL from the hit BBC TV show – Gladiators

Zack joined us in partnership with Amber Valley Borough Council & Derbyshire County Council Public Health to deliver his inspiring and uplifting story to our schools in Amber Valley. As well as sharing his very own tailored programme, Zactive, which has been created to help children become more active, hydrated and grow in confidence. One school he visited was St Johns CofE Primary School and Nursery in Ripley.

The students at St Johns were thrilled to be visited by “that strong man from the telly” (reception student, aged 5) in their own school hall! Zack delivered a fantastic speech about the importance of staying positive, confident and happy within yourself. He shared his story form being a young boy who always dreamed of being a Gladiator to becoming the incredibly fit, healthy, strong and well-known Gladiator Steel.

Prior to STEEL’s visit to Woodbridge Junior in Alfreton, Headteacher Emma Hanson said:

“Excitement is building up in the staffroom at Woodbridge as the day of Steel’s visit gets closer. We are keeping it a secret from the children and we can’t wait to see their faces on Wednesday. Woodbridge children dressed up as Gladiators for Children in Need last November and created their own Gladiator names, so they will be ultra-excited when they realise that a real one is actually in their school assembly. Steel’s story of aspiration, hard work and looking after your health and wellbeing will be inspirational for our young people as well as giving everyone a much needed boost to beat the January blues. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this programme”

Zack wanted to educate the students he visited on the 5 main things of Zactive which are:

Healthy balance eating
Exercise
Confidence
Mindset
Hydration

In every school he visited, Zack brought with him enough water bottles for each child to instil his vital message to stay hydrated!

Following STEEL’s visit each identified school received a FREE five session Health & Wellbeing programme courtesy of Amber Valley School Sport Partnership – one of our most popular educational programmes – the interactive sessions aim to increase knowledge and understanding of the importance of healthy bodies and healthy minds with five key stands – Hydration, Sugars, Balance Diet, Energy & Fats & Mental wellbeing through kindness.

The sessions linked closely to Zack’s messaging and helped to carry on his positive impact in each school.

The children and staff in our schools loved having Zack in and we, at AVSSP, can’t thank him enough for his willingness to visit several schools with us and share his stories. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Zack and we are looking forward to having him back soon! 💙

Schools were selected using local insight data obtained by Active Derbyshire and to represent a range of communities – AVSSP were able to support Zack to visit:

Coppice Primary School (Heanor)
Crich Junior School (Crich)
Herbert Strutt Primary School (Belper)
Ironville & Codnor Park Primary School (Ironville)
Milford Primary School (Milford)
Somerlea Park Junior School (Somercotes)
St Johns Primary School & Nursery (Ripley)
Woodbridge Junior School (Alfreton)

In Uncategorised

Sports clubs – find one for you!

24/05/2023

AVSSP take pride in working with a wide range of community sports clubs in Amber Valley. From Athletics to Tennis and Dance to Martial Arts, we have lots of opportunities for children of all ages to get involved in physical activity outside of school.

Working with these clubs allows us to support our community even more and increase participation in physical activity in and out of schools. We want to create a community of fit, healthy and happy people that enjoy the many health and wellbeing benefits gained from physical Activity and Sport. Giving sports clubs the spotlight they deserve on our social media not only boosts their club and shows off all the amazing work they are doing, but it also provides the chance for clubs to gain new players and grow more and more.

If your child is interested in a specific sport head to the sports club section of our website to find a club that suits you.

In Uncategorised

Competitions with AVSSP 24/25

12/02/2023

We have over 100 competitions planned for this year and we can’t wait to get started with them! From our popular Sports Hall Athletics to a brand new Panathalon and much more! Our competitions are always exciting evenings that allow hundreds of children to take part in physical activity whilst representing their school and competing with others.

We also run a wide range of festivals for children who don’t often engage in competitive sports to allow them to have the chance to represent their school in an environment they feel more comfortable in. This also includes our Plus events that are specifically held for SEN students across Primary and Secondary schools in the borough. We want to provide equal opportunities for all children regardless of their situation, personality type or sporting background.

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign your school up for as many of our competitions at you’d like to attend. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again 💙

In News

Enrichment Opportunities with AVSSP!

04/10/2022

As well as hundreds of inter-school competitions, AVSSP also offer a wide range of intra-school enrichment opportunities to children in Amber Valley. For example, our Tough Rower and Tough Runner are always very popular and usually get the most bookings per year.

We have lots of fun and engaging events that are designed to provide children with the chance to experience exciting new physical activity environments. Such as taking part in Olympic and Paralympic based sports whilst learning about the history of the event, or learning the art of self defence with Martial Art specialists and even trying new sports in our Pick ‘n’ Mix sports day event.

To learn more about our enrichment programme click here.💙

In News

Staff CPD – A chance to improve!

13/04/2022

As we come to the end of the first term a brief update on how our CPD programme has shaped up so far this year and what is upcoming in term two.

Our CPD programme aims to improve school staff confidence and competence within different areas of Physical Education, School Sport, and Physical Activity. By upskilling staff within schools, we are providing more sustainable opportunities for pupils to access and thrive within this sector and therefore promote active and healthy lifestyles.

This term we have had a total of 4 sessions two PE Practical Delivery Sessions in Athletics and Gymnastics and two PE and School Sport Improvement Sessions based around how to be a more active school and our guest speaker session with Teach Active on how to make Maths more active. These have been well attended with 20 different schools having accessed at least one of these sessions.

We know there is demand for Swimming CPD in the borough, something we’d hoped to deliver this term, but this has proven challenging to arrange. We hope to provide a positive update in term 2.

Also coming up in Term 2 are:

PE & School Sport Improvement Workshops

ECT PE Development: Tuesday 23^rd January 2024
Physical Literacy & Other Inclusive Interventions: Tuesday 12^th March 2024

Practical PE Delivery Workshops

Dance: Wednesday 7^th February 2024
Swimming: Date TBC

Our mid-year PE Subject Leader Meeting is also taking place during term two on Wednesday 14^th February. This will provide you with updates regarding competitions, summer term ideas/opportunities and looking in more detail at the recently released Sport England physical literacy consensus statement and what impact that could have within your school.

In News

CPD with AVSSP

17/11/2021

After every half term, AVSSP staff come together on the first Friday back to learn new ways of teaching and new skills. The start of half-term 5 saw us take part in LTA’s brand new LTA Youth Primary School Teacher Training Course. The course took place at Alfreton Leisure Centre, home of our Holiday Camps, and ran during the morning before our coaches returned to their schools for the afternoon.

Our coaches worked in teams to plan and deliver a session from LTA’s new session planning booklets to eachother. We took part in skill games and added adaptations for specific needs such has hard of hearing or impaired vision. During the course, we learnt new teaching points that can help improve our lesson delivery and the excitement of our sessions.

We finished the session with team games and battled against each other to score points and be crowned the king or queen of Wimbledon! We would like to say a big thank you to LTA for coming and delivering the course for us, Andy was fantastic and very informative!

LTA also worked along side our Further Education Officer, Adam White, to deliver a CPD session to the teachers in our schools. Andy ran a similar session to what we received and Mr White some lovely feedback from all who attended.

Thank you to LTA for coming to up-skill our coaches and give us new ways to teach our lovely students! And thank you to Mrs Naylor for the donuts she provided on the day

In News

Inclusive Activity Club – A great success!

09/09/2021

Since the launch of Mrs Start’s Inclusive Sports and Activity Club, we have seen a huge increase in participation. A fantastic mixture of children join the club every Tuesday for an hour of active play and sport related games.

One parent who attend the club with their child said “the club is a great chance for children like my son to take part in a club outside of school that offers a wide range of activities for them to get stuck into. My son has had the chance to meet other children like him and his confidence has grown massively since coming.”

A child who regularly attends the club said “I love coming to Mrs Start’s club because i like playing with the different toys. I like the big ball and the fishes in the water.”

We love being able to offer an opportunity for children who wouldn’t usually attend and after school club, to come and experience playing with different children and developing new skills whilst having lost of fun.

We hope everyone is enjoying the club so far. If you would like to learn more about the cub, or book your child onto a session, head to the community section of our website! Thank you