Liverpool School Sports Partnership (LSSP) has been awarded £322,000 in funding to support its mission of offering a net-zero cost service to affiliated schools across the city.

The not-for-profit organisation, which has worked with schools in Liverpool for 25 years to enhance sporting and wellbeing initiatives for children and young people, has received £208,000 from the Steve Morgan Foundation and £114,000 from KIND.

The Steve Morgan Foundation, one of the UK’s leading charitable foundations, supports not-for-profit organisations tackling the root causes of social disadvantage across Liverpool, Cheshire, and North Wales. Its one-year grant will enable LSSP to subsidise its Enhanced Membership Package, making high-quality sport and PE provision more affordable and accessible for schools.

With schools increasingly citing cost as a barrier to participation in sport, covering everything from teacher training to transport, the grant is expected to save member schools a combined total of more than £250,000. Funding will also allow LSSP to hire a new staff member to deliver its 12-week intervention programme, I AM, which supports secondary school students to build resilience, regulate emotions, and reduce negative behaviours that impact learning and wellbeing.

Mrs Nicky Ware, headteacher at Hunts Cross Primary School in south Liverpool that currently subscribes to LSSP’s annual Enhanced Membership Package, commented:

“We cannot thank LSSP enough for all the work they are doing to ensure schools like us are able to offer our pupils the very best sport, physical activity, and health and wellbeing opportunities. 

“Despite the ongoing budget worries that all schools continue to face on a daily basis, we know that LSSP are doing all they can to ensure physical activity remains a key part of the provision we provide to pupils.”

Ruth Dixon, regional grants manager at the Steve Morgan Foundation, said:

“The work LSSP completes across Liverpool is vital. Having been out to see its team in action, we’ve witnessed the incredible role its coaches and staff have in making a positive impact on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. At Steve Morgan Foundation, we’re delighted to support such a worthwhile organisation and are excited to follow its journey.”

Joint CEOs Jimmy McGinn and Adella Dando, who spent five months developing the funding bid, welcomed the decision after SMF finance trustees visited school competitions and sessions to see LSSP’s work first-hand.

Alongside this, LSSP has secured a three-year £114,000 grant from KIND, which works with disadvantaged families and children across Merseyside. This funding will help extend LSSP’s reach, building on existing wellbeing initiatives such as the Happy, Healthy, Active programme, delivered with North West Cancer Research, which has already helped more than 16,000 primary school children make healthier life choices.

Together, the funding marks a pivotal moment in LSSP’s drive to create equal opportunities for all young people in Liverpool to thrive through sport, health, and wellbeing.

Stephen Yip, founder and chief executive of KIND, said:

“We’re delighted to support LSSP, as they continue to deliver their Happy, Healthy, Active programme in conjunction with North West Cancer Research. It’s had such a beneficial effect on children and families across the city already, and we’re looking forward to seeing the continued difference it makes in the lives of our young people.” 

Joint CEO at LSSP, Jimmy McGinn, commented:

“We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded these two grants and on behalf of everyone at LSSP, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the teams at the Steve Morgan Foundation and KIND.

“£208,000 and £114,000 are truly transformative amounts of money and will profoundly impact the lives of all young people across Liverpool. The Youth Sport Trust recently revealed nearly 4,000 PE hours were lost in the last academic year, so we must do all we can to support pupils and students in becoming happy, healthy and active individuals.”

More details can be found on the website.

READ MORE: Liverpool celebrates 185 years of Cunard with Special Anniversary Events