Andrew Overhill joined the Premier Education network as a franchisee almost 10 years ago, and began working to win contracts to support schools in the Taunton area with their PE, School Sport and Physical Activity provision. In 2012, having spent 20 years working in the hospitality industry, Andrew was keen to find a completely new challenge.

Inspired by his lifelong love of sport, he began researching his next move. Before long, he discovered Premier Education, and the work we were doing near to his home in the South-West of England. Andrew knew he had learnt some transferrable skills, that would be crucial in the physical activity and education sectors. But he wasn’t quite sure where to start, or how to apply them at first.

He was put in touch with other franchisees before joining the network, and was consistenly reassured that if his priority was to have a positive impact in schools and on the children, then this could be a success. Inspired and motivated, Andrew joined as a franchisee and now believes that hospitality and physical activity aren’t all that different: “They’re both very customer-focused and involve a lot of interacting with people. You have to provide your customers with the best they can get – whether that’s a plate of food or an activity session.”

Aided not only by his franchise peers, Andrew also received some invaluable support from Premier Education’s Head Office, which allowed him to focus on building relationships and winning school contracts in his area: “there’s a lot of people at HQ with great insights into their own area of expertise. It really helps to have somebody with their finger on the pulse nationally because it means I can focus on improving my business locally.”

Today, Andrew and his team of activity professionals (coaches) work in 30 schools. For Andrew, his passion for getting children active still lives at the heart of his business: “I love the fact that every day I’m trying to positively impact children’s lives.”

And it’s not just about the children. With a large team of aspiring coaches to mentor, Andrew relishes his role to have a lasting impact: “it’s so nice to be able to give young coaches an opportunity to develop. The ones that believe in what they’re doing progress really quickly – it’s really great to see that and know that I’m helping them to build their careers.”