Pupils at Stanley Primary School were involved in designing a new piece of equipment for a football referee when Oliver Langford, from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), visited the school in October.
Through the Premier League Primary Stars project, funded by the Premier League Charitable Fund, the Community Trust offer partner primary schools a host of additional opportunities for their pupils.
Partnering with the PGMOL allows the Community Trust to enhance their offer of provision to local primary schools. These workshops are designed to be interactive and engaging, giving the pupils a chance to work together and get their creative juices flowing.
Alongside the Community Trust staff, Oliver shared all his officiating clothing and gadgets before the pupils were tasked with creating a new piece of equipment to help other officials.
Some pupils, as seen in the picture above, even had the opportunity to try on the official shirts worn by Oliver when officiating EFL Championship games.
Jane Murphy, Deputy Headteacher for the school, said,
“The workshop was excellent. When I got in there every child was fully engrossed in the activity – they came up with some super ideas. It was also nice to hear from our teacher that children who perhaps do not enjoy football, were also engaged in designing their piece of equipment. It was interactive and worked really well.“
Ideas pitched by the pupils included a pair of super glasses and a pair of earmuffs to drown out the noise of the players shouting!
Pupil really enjoyed the morning and told us:
“I enjoyed when we did the presentation and learnt about what a referee would need on his job. I also liked when we did the activity and had a go at drawing our own ‘gear’. This was very fun! I would love to do it again”
“It was a great way of introducing us as kids to the world of refereeing; learning about what they do is truly fascinating”
This will be the first of many partnered workshops that will take place throughout the academic year and Oliver, who is now a resident on the Fylde Coast, is looking forward to working with more pupils in the Blackpool area.
“It’s great to be able to go into schools and interact with pupils. It gives them an insight into the equipment we use and an opportunity for them to be innovative and imaginative to make our jobs easier!”
