How Premier League Primary Stars tournament inspired one school from Wolves

As one of the closest schools to Molineux Stadium, it seemed fitting that St Stephens Church of England Primary School were the team to represent Wolverhampton Wanderers at this year's Premier League Primary Stars football tournament.

St Stephens were one of 40 schools to take the field at Brentford FC's Gtech Community Stadium recently, proudly wearing their team's first-team kit and having the unique experience of playing on a Premier League pitch.

"They are an unbelievable group of children and what a reward this is for all of their hard work," says deputy headteacher Nick Pearce. "It's unreal. What the Premier League have done, the way they've organised it, making every single child feel special, giving them photo opportunities, it's amazing.

"When we saw the team come out of the tunnel my feelings were just pride. I'm proud of absolutely every single one of those kids and for the parents as well, because they have backed us to the hilt."

St Stephens is a one-form entry school located in a high-need area located to the east of Wolverhampton city centre.

And after accepting an invitation from the Wolves Foundation to take part in regional qualifying, they defied the odds to win two tournaments to make it through to the national finals for the first time.

"I went to the final qualifier with my teaching assistant and I'll happily admit that when we won, we were nearly in tears," Nick says. "We know how much it means to these children. We know how much it means to a school like us, such a small community and from where we are.

"Some of the children have never been out of Wolverhampton so to get the opportunity to come down to Brentford, stay in a hotel overnight with their parents, they might not have done that before.

"There's a lack of financial resource in the community but all of the parents have been a part of this, they support their children endlessly. On the coach down they said how happy they all were.

"You can see the faces of the children when they were coming into London, just looking at everything that's around them. If they want to move forward in their careers, if they want to work in London, if they want to get these big jobs, it's absolutely massive. It's really aspirational for them."

The tournament gave the opportunity for St Stephens and the Wolves Foundation to showcase their aim of giving female players the opportunity to play alongside, and against, boys.

"The team got us here and so they all deserved to be a part of it," Nick says.

"That equality is a lesson for the boys and it's about encouraging the girls, who may not play football out of school, to be a part of the team and giving them a little bit of belief. Look what they have achieved!"

As the dust settles on another Premier League Primary Stars football tournament and many of the St Stephens team prepare to move on to secondary school, Nick believes that being a part of the event will have a significant impact on the wider community as well as the players involved.

"This will give them belief and a bit of hope," Nick says. "The reason I became a teacher was to help children progress, to lead them down the right path, to give them somewhere to go in life. Being part of this and watching them, it's a huge amount of pride in me.

"This is not about what's on the pitch, it's far more than that. It's about experiences for the children. It's about working together. It's about learning that you can do something that you perhaps didn't do before.

"I'll take from this that even as a small school, even in the small community we've got, we are capable. As long as we put the effort in as teachers, as schools, as outside agencies, we can inspire these children to achieve really great things."

What is Premier League Primary Stars?

Premier League Primary Stars is the Premier League's primary school education programme, using the appeal of football to support children to be active and develop essential life skills. It is available to every primary school in England and Wales, with over 19,000 schools engaged with the programme. More than 1.3million school sessions and events have already been delivered.

Funded by the Premier League, through the Premier League Charitable Fund, the programme has enabled over 68,000 teachers to use resources for English, PSHE, PE and Maths, to help children to be active and develop essential life skills. There are 650+ free resources available.

Currently 104 professional football club charities from the National League to the Premier League run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local schools, with over 18m attendances by primary school pupils.

To find out more about delivering the programme in your school, please visit plprimarystars.com.

More than a game

The "More than a game" campaign showcases the support the Premier League provides for communities and the wider game.

The Premier League has provided world-leading levels of investment into communities and football at all levels in England and Wales, with a £1.6billion contribution over three years, equating to 16 per cent of the League's total revenue.