Premiere League Primary Stars: Get resources for your school #ad

Kids love football, from playing it themselves to cheering on a favourite team.

Now the Premier League is now using some of its wealth to provide education resources to up to 10,000 primary schools in England and Wales in its Primary Stars programme (#PLPrimaryStars) over the next two years. Its ultimate aim is to work with all primary schools.

But the project is not, as you might suspect, solely sport-focused. Yes, there will be PE resources but the breadth of the programme is much wider, with the core subjects of literacy, numeracy and PSHE (personal, health, social and economic education) all covered by the programme.

You can nominate your child’s school to take up this programme and get involved to benefit students.

Here are 7 reasons why you should nominate your school:

• Using non-academic subjects such as football and sporting stars is a great way to engage many reluctant learners. “Primary Stars is all about providing engaging resources and books to schools, loaning footballers to help with lessons and supplying stickers, pencils and certificates to reward children with,” says Penny, a former teacher who blogs at Parent Shaped and who attended the Primary Stars launch. One deputy head teacher commented: “When I put a video on with Wes [Brown] and [Cristiano] Ronaldo, suddenly EVERYONE is listening. Suddenly everyone is alert and wanting to learn, it’s meaningful for them, it’s cool.” Read Penny’s full post about the launch (including popular kids’ authors and educators).
• For children who are more traditional learners, there are maths courses developed in collaboration with Rachel Riley (the numbers whizz on Countdown and a SkySports presenter) and literacy input from How to Tame Your Dragon author, Cressida Cowell, an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative. On World Book Day in March, the Primary Stars programme donated more than 500 book boxes to schools.
• The resources that Primary Stars has developed have been formulated to work in partnership with the National Curriculum at KS1 and KS2, so they fit in and emphasize children’s regular schoolwork.
• Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork: children are taught resilience through the example of sports stars working hard individually to achieve their ambitions and working hard together within their team. The first ad broadcast by the Premier League – “Try, try again” – really emphasised this. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3opf33lnR0
• Yes, there is a sporting element but much emphasis is put on promoting children’s physical confidence rather than churning out centre-forwards: “The children already involved in the programme are benefiting from fun and engaging PE activities to develop skills like balance and co-ordination along with athletics and throwing skills,” says Charly of PODcast. Read Charly’s full post here. 
• There is a chance your child’s school could be selected for a sprinkling of celebrity glitter with a visit from a player – there is a lovely film of Alex Greenwood of Liverpool Ladies and England international visiting local schools here  – or, if you nominate your school before June 16, a chance that the Premier League trophy could be brought to your school for a celebratory lap of the playground.
• It’s all completely free. Really! “I love that such a huge organisation is giving back in such an amazing way,” says supply teacher Katy of What Katy Said, who has made a mental note to speak to her daughter’s school about registering with Primary Stars. Get the teacher’s perspective by reading Katy’s post now.

To nominate your school, ask one of the staff to visit https://plprimarystars.com/register/teacher