Luke Higgins, Sports Coach at Heather Garth Primary Academy, hails the Premier League Primary Stars programme after seeing a ‘massive’ difference in his pupils.

Premier League Primary Stars is a Premier League-funded scheme which seeks to use the pull of professional football clubs and sport to promote education in primary school children.

Incorporating English, Maths, PE and PSHE lessons, the programme also looks to teach students real-life skills transferable outside of the classroom as they learn the importance of the key concepts related to discipline and respect.

Reds in the Community have been delivering the programme at Heather Garth Primary Academy throughout the Autumn term and Mr Higgins has already witnessed the impact of the programme.

He said: “It’s going really well. They’ve become different kids to be honest. They’ve been with year five, year three and year four. There’s a massive change in the kids both socially out on the playground and in the lessons as well so it’s had a really positive effect on them.

“Different kids learn in different ways. Me, for example, I know that if I could learn through sport that’d benefit me massively. There’s some kids that love the classroom and academic side of stuff. I know lot of kids at this school love the physical side of stuff rather than the theory so learning that way is awesome.”

Senior Community Coach Gareth Cooke has led the sessions alongside Tom Taylor, the latter of whom has progressed from the Charity’s education setup into paid coaching work.

Mr Higgins was full of praise for the Reds in the Community staff, explaining further how they have helped both himself and the pupils.

“Gaz (Gareth) and Tommy (Tom) are absolutely class. The kids love it and are excited for you guys coming in. It’s class because they get into a routine of having me teaching them PE. It’s nice to have a different emphasis of PE from somebody else. It’s something new for the kids and they love it.

“It’s basically taught them about morals inside and outside of sport. We’ve had a PSHE lesson which has basically been teaching them about right and wrong, how they believe they should act in certain situations. It’s obviously helping them with the physical side of stuff but also the mental side of their lives as well.

“I teach PE throughout school. I’ve done it for quite a while but coaches and teachers can always learn. Getting different ideas off other people is always a benefit.”

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