Teachers and pupils of Carrfield Primary Academy in Bolton-upon-Dearne, had high praise for the Premier League Primary Stars programme after the initiative helped to encourage the importance of key life skills amongst its pupils.

Reds in the Community delivered the Premier-League funded scheme at Carrfield throughout the Autumn-term of the 2019/20 academic year, as Senior Community Coach James Cooke and Connor Pickles led up the proceedings.

Alison Kerry, Higher Learning Teaching Assistant of Year Four, praised the programme and its staff for the impact on both the pupils and herself over the course of the 12 weeks.

She said: “I thought it was really good and I know for a fact that the kids enjoyed it. They looked forward to the staff from the programme coming in and they have learnt so much from it.

“I was made to feel included and when I asked questions, the staff answered clearly and I knew when they weren’t there, I would be able to deliver the lessons, so as a result, I thought support received from them was brilliant.

“They also gave me lots of things to think about looking ahead to the future, so I now know that I will be able to deliver a variety of different lessons because of the skills I picked up from the programme.”

Premier League Primary Stars seeks to use the pull of professional football clubs and sport to promote education in primary school children.

By incorporating English, Maths, PE, and PSHE lessons, students learn a number of qualities highly important to life outside of the classroom such as how to be fair and respectful.

A pupil from Miss Kerry’s class also gave her feedback regarding the programme, particularly outlining how enjoyable the lessons were.

“It was really fun. It required a lot of teamwork effort and it could be challenging at times but once you git the hang of it, it was great fun.

“The staff were very encouraging when you were struggling with something, they would help to build up your confidence and so, next time you played that game you would feel so much better.”

Throughout the duration of the course, the children also took part in the Healthy Kicks programme, designed to promote the importance of having a balanced lifestyle.

Speaking about that, the student added: “It was really good because they showed us lots of different food diagrams that will help us get healthy. It showed us what we should eat and how much of each certain food we can eat.”

Further to this, teacher of Year Three, Ashleigh Reasebeck, said not only did the initiative benefit the pupils but also gave her new a purpose moving forward.

She said: ” All of the children enjoyed it. They were able to get active and get involved, it was great fun. I know that my class loved it, they looked forward it every week.

“As for me, I didn’t like PE at school, but now it’s given me lots to think about and I now I can steal some ideas from the programme for myself when it comes to teaching.”

For more information about the Premier League Primary Stars programme, contact Sports Development Officer [email protected] or ring 01226 211333.