The Active
Academy Story
Meet Martin
Our journey starts way back in 2009 when Martin, our founder, started to volunteer at a local secondary school. Very quickly, he climbed the ranks to become a cover supervisor and sports coach. He transitioned to primary schools in 2015 where he led P.E. at a school in Shoebury.
At the start of 2021, Martin felt he had a strong amount of experience from his 13 years of teaching and it was the perfect time to create his own business driven by his passion of sports, so he decided to start up his own unique holiday club which began as Sports-on-Sea in the Shoebury community.
Martin, the founder of Active Academy
From his ethusiasm as a P.E. teacher, he wanted to ensure children had access to high-quality physical education, while also having fun, learning new skills and building their social circle.
It started out great and we went (and continue to go) from strength to strength. Since starting as Sports-on-Sea, it became clear very quickly that he wanted to expand the services we offer, which is when we rebranded to Active Academy and other team members came on board, such as Milly. Martin now pursues Active Academy as his full-time job, with many avenues to manage.
The Active Academy journey
Milly’s on board
Milly started as a student teaching in primary schools in 2016. She progressed to Key Stage 1 Phase Leader before going part time to focus on digital marketing, which is when she gained a larger role in Active Academy.
When Milly joined us in 2021, we started to focus more on a wider curriculum, including arts and crafts, as well as having a larger presence on social media. She now supports with the day-to-day running of Active Academy and manages many areas of the business behind the scenes, including marketing, create links within the community and adherence to legislation.
Milly, Active Academy brand manager and no. 1 supporter
In addition to Martin and Milly, we now have an experienced team behind us who can deliver truly unique and fun experiences to all children attending. We have also invested in state-of-the-art equipment to ensure your children get a brand new experience they couldn’t get anywhere else.
Following our success, we were passionate about offering all children, regardless of background, the same offer - which is when started to open HAF clubs at Westborough Primary School in Westcliff-on-Sea, Chase High School in Southend-on-Sea and Castle View School in Canvey.
Supporting the community
For those not familiarised with the term HAF, it stands for Holiday Activities and Food Programme and is funding provided by the local authority. It offers children from disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to attend clubs like our own, which they may not be able to benefit from if the funding wasn’t provided - something which aligns very closely to our business morals and ethics.
All members of our team are teachers and are excellent in their field, ensuring the children who attend Active Academy create unforgettable memories.
Our newest offer
As the club progressed, we started to offer extra-curricular clubs to schools, curriculum coaching services in education, after-school sports clubs and early morning clubs & after school clubs in Leigh-on-Sea.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who has supported the journey of Active Academy so far, it doesn’t go unnoticed and we wouldn’t be where we are today with you. We can’t wait to see where we will be this time next year!
Martin and Milly.