CSPs turn Clubmark dreams into reality for sports clubs of all types

Sport England has issued licences to another seven County Sports Partnerships (CSPs), taking the total number of organisations that can accredit Clubmark to 59 - with at least one partnership in each region now licensed.

County Sport Partnership (CSP) benchmarking documents were first produced in 2008 to show the number and distribution of Clubmark accredited and working towards clubs in each CSP area.

Following positive feedback they are now produced on a biannual basis. A mixture of maps, graphs and tables are used to indicate the robustness of Clubmark within each CSP and local authority area.

Clubmark is built around a set of core criteria, which ensure that accredited clubs operate to a set of consistent, accepted and adopted minimum operating standards. The findings of this year's EV are consistent with previous years, illustrating that Clubmark is a consistent and effective scheme that is delivered to a high standard across the board.

The new Framework for Safeguarding Children in and through Sport provides an audit tool for all involved in sport to help create the safest possible sporting environment for children and young people and protect them from harm.

Sport England's Clubmark national quality accreditation is the key method of embedding these safeguarding standards at club level. Developed in conjunction with national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) and county sports partnerships (CSPs), Clubmark is a robust, high quality, defensible scheme, endorsed by stakeholders across the sector. Key achievements over recent years include:

Mid Sussex Hockey Club (MSHC) would like to announce that it has received England Hockey ClubsFirst and Sport England Clubmark accreditation.

Coach House Riding School, the well-known and reputable local riding school at Chippenham in Cambridgeshire has been awarded Clubmark accreditation that officially recognises its reputation in top-level instruction to its younger members.

South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club were proud to receive its Clubmark/swim21 certificate from Olympic Swimmer Ross Davenport.

Davenport took a break from training in Loughborough for the evening to present the club with its certificate. He also took the time out to chat to coaches, parents and swimmers - and to sign a few autographs!

As part of the wider ECB Clubmark review and in line with suggestions and issues raised as part of the Clubmark surveys carried out in November 2009, an updated version of the ECB Clubmark folder is now in operation for cricket clubs.

Chapel-en-le-Frith Golf Club in Derbyshire has been awarded the prestigious GolfMark Club of the Year Award. The club impressed judges with programmes to encourage both juniors and adults into golf, while creating the kind of welcoming environment that serves as an excellent advertisement for the game.

The Learning & Skills Council have awarded the University of Cumbria a European Social Fund bid to support Level 2 and 3 sport, outdoor and fitness qualifications in the North West; for full details of the funding, supported courses and to apply please visit www.getqualifiednw.org.uk

The five NW County Sports Partnerships, the National Skills Academy and SkillsActive were part of a bid led by the University of Cumbria to offer sports, outdoors and fitness coaches the chance to get the qualifications they need to advance their careers. Get Qualified NW can reimburse 60% of a course fee to a maximum of £200 for a level 2 and £300 for a level 3 or equivalent course.

To apply people must: