03 December 2018
Les Quennevais Sports Centre has been rated excellent following a two-year assessment by Quest Plus, a leading UK assessor for the sport and leisure industry.
Staff at the St Brelade leisure centre have been commended for their friendly, helpful and prompt manner, and health and safety guidelines at the centre – particularly safeguarding training for staff working with children – were recognised for meeting the needs of the community.
Partnerships with community groups, including Jersey Sport and Jersey Association for the Disabled, were also noted for having effective and beneficial impacts on people who use the sports centre.
Les Quennevais Sports Centre went through a two-year assessment process, with a mystery visit and two-day assessment in year one and a second mystery visit and one-day assessment in the second year.
As part of the Quest process, Les Quennevais Sports Centre was found to comply with the Inclusive Fitness Initiative – a national programme that offers disabled people more choice and opportunities to be physically active. This accreditation recognises the leisure centre’s commitment to providing welcoming and accessible services for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.
Les Quennevais Sports Centre manager Rachel Sawyer said: “I am proud that we have been awarded a score of ‘excellent’. This is a fantastic achievement and a real team effort. Quest is much more than a tick-box exercise: it is an ongoing programme to improve the operational and service functions.
“The Inclusive Fitness Initiative accreditation recognises the achievements and commitment of leisure facilities who enable disabled people to become physically active. The accreditation provides an inclusive platform for disabled and non-disabled people to be active together.”
Additionally, Active Swim at Les Quennevais Sports Centre has maintained its Swim England Learn to Swim accreditation, which was first issued in 2015.
Miss Sawyer added: “This demonstrates that our teachers are delivering swimming within the Swim England framework and are providing pathways to other aquatic disciplines. The Active Swim school is also an approved training centre for Swim England Qualifications so not only do we teach learn to swim we also train and qualify new swimming teachers.”
The Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Senator Steve Pallett, said: “An ‘excellent’ score speaks for itself. Staff at Les Quennevais Sports Centre should be proud of their achievements, including the non-mandatory elements of Learn to Swim. It’s the centre that I use regularly so I see the standards set in all areas of service delivery.”
Quest Plus is Sport England’s recommended continuous improvement assessor for sport and leisure facilities, designed to measure how effective organisations are at providing customer service.
Quest’s operations director, Caroline Constantine, said: “By meeting Quest’s high standards for excellent centres, Les Quennevais has shown its commitment to providing quality facilities and service to its customers. In these tough economic times it is more important than ever that local leisure facilities can demonstrate their value.”
gov.je