Running community lettings can be a great way to engage your local community and create an additional and significant revenue stream for your school.
Before you get started with the process of running community lettings at your school, we do think there are a few essential things to consider.
Desirable Facilities
To make a profit from community lettings, you must have the facilities and amenities customers want. Unfortunately, if the facilities at your school don’t fit the desired criteria, it might not be worth the time, effort, or risk for your school to try to make it happen.
Primary Schools can sometimes be an example of this as all the facilities are catered to children meaning smaller chairs, tables, and bathrooms which don’t always match older customers’ needs.
We would advise that the most successful schools are those that have a variety of good quality and popular facilities such as Sports Halls, Main Halls, and 2G or 3G Astro Pitches.
Location
Another factor you must consider before taking on community lettings is the location of your school. For example, if your school is situated in London where space is limited and in demand, then you often have a higher chance of being successful than in some other more remote locations. This isn’t always the case however as it depends on how many competitors there are in the local area.
Opening Your Doors to The General Public
Hiring out your school’s facilities to the general public can of course come with a few risks. Even though we do our very best to avoid these issues, and have many procedures and well-trained staff members in place to prevent them from happening sometimes things break, are moved around, or are misplaced.
We hold customers responsible for any damage or theft but we recognise that this can still be frustrating for our clients. We will always look to resolve any issues as soon as possible.
The Process Taking Time
The process of implementing community lettings at your school can sometimes take a while to get going. Even though at Schools Plus we promise to onboard your school within six weeks, that doesn’t always guarantee that you will have a flood of customers in the door when you first open.
If your school is brand new to running community lettings, then it might take the local community a little while to start considering your school as a host venue for their activities or events.
Residential Area
If your school resides in a residential area, you may need to think about council-imposed restrictions or possible noise complaints from residents. This can sometimes have an impact on the number of bookings that can take place and can also affect your relationship with the local community.
Extra-curricular Activities
If you run many after-school clubs or classes, there might also be an issue with how many community lettings can take place. Due to safeguarding protocols, we are not permitted to run any bookings whilst pupils are present in the same building.
In certain situations, we can consider using a specific section of the school where customers won’t come into contact with any students but overall we will need all students to be off-site before any out-of-hour lettings can commence.
It’s always a big decision when it comes to letting out your school’s facilities to others and we know it’s not always an easy one to make. Your school’s needs always take priority but it’s important to understand potential hurdles that may come your way.
At Schools Plus, we do have a dedicated team in place to help advise your school on everything mentioned above and all other concerns or queries that you might have.
If you have any additional questions or would like any more information about starting to run community lettings at your school, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact us on the details below.
