Katie Whitehead and Claire Singleton named Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Premier League Primary Stars ‘Superstar’ as schools programme marks its five-year anniversary.
The Premier League is celebrating five years of its schools’ programme, Premier League Primary Stars.
Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to support pupils in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.
To celebrate, clubs have nominated a ‘Superstar’ – a young person or teacher who has inspired others through their dedication to the programme, enthusiasm and own personal development.
Two people who have benefitted from their involvement in the programme are Katie Whitehead of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School, and Claire Singleton of Moor Park Primary School, who have been named as a ‘Superstar’ by Blackpool FC Community Trust as part of the programme’s five-year celebrations.
Katie and Claire have been chosen as Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Premier League Primary Stars Superstars because of their outstanding work in PE over the past year or more they have been delivering.
Katie has shown huge strides in her own PE delivery this year, her confidence and ability to deliver good quality PE lessons have improved massively over the year, and the way she has worked with the class shines through not only in PE but also in other lessons as well. She is now able to try new ideas and adapt them to the needs of the pupils which was an area for improvement earlier in the year. Her personality has changed as she has gone from a shy person within PE to someone who is now confident, takes responsibility, plans, delivers, and knows how to adapt the lesson to her pupil’s needs.
Katie said,
“Taking part in the programme has helped me to develop my resilience and confidence in teaching PE. As an ECT, this programme has added to my continuous professional development. The programme has also given support in managing the behaviour of a challenging class with extra need and social and emotional needs.
“I am much more confident in teaching PE, involving behaviour management strategies, utilising lesson time effectively and developing my own sports and fitness skills.”
Claire has spent the last 4 years designing and implementing a brand-new PE curriculum for her school, aligned with reinforcing the school values through PE, helping upskill teachers, and raising standards of PE across the whole school. Moor Park Primary are extremely proud of what Claire has achieved and their PE within the school, how it is delivered, and how the teachers have embraced PE and have a more positive outlook on it. They now recognise the advantages of high-quality PE in school not only in these lessons but throughout the school every day.
Claire said,
“I want to say thank you for the wonderful award, it was a big surprise! It’s been great having The Community Trust supporting our school in getting the best PE curriculum to meet the needs of our children and I’m super proud of all Moor Park has achieved.”
Blackpool FC Community Trust began its Premier League Primary Stars delivery in 2017 and since then has supported 28,089 young people through 19,941 lessons across Blackpool primary schools.
Each ‘Superstar’ will receive a Nike Strike football, thanks to Premier League partner Nike, and a framed, limited-edition five-year anniversary illustration, created by graphic designer and digital illustrator Zem Clarke.
Premier League Primary Stars provides teachers and parents with free downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 (age 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (age 7-11), developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with experts such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association.
Currently, 105 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local schools. More than 58,000 teachers have signed up to access free online national curriculum-linked resources.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said:
“We launched Premier League Primary Stars five years ago to support teachers and use the power and popularity of football to inspire children in the classroom and on the sports field.
“Clubs do fantastic work to support children’s learning and we are very proud that this national education programme now engages more than 18,500 primary schools in England and Wales.
“Congratulations to all those who have been recognized as a Premier League Primary Stars Superstar, as part of the five-year anniversary celebrations, and thank you to all those involved in the programme over the years.”
The Premier League funds Premier League Primary Stars and other community programmes through its £100m investment per season in community facilities and community and education programmes. This is the biggest voluntary contribution to communities and other good causes of any football league in the world.
Please visit www.premierleague.com for more information.