England goalkeeper James and midfielder Richard Hughes led two teams of primary school children in recreating a traditional 'field gun run' at Portsmouth's Historic Naval Dockyard to launch a new education programme that compares modern living with life in Tudor times.

"Get On Board", a joint initiative between Portsmouth Football Club and The Mary Rose Trust, links the culture and history of Portsmouth Football Club with that of the Tudors and the Tudor warship the Mary Rose. The programme brings football and history together in a series of stimulating and exciting lessons to educate and enthuse young children.

During the launch, the players and pupils - from the city's Isambard Brunel Junior School shool - recreated the Royal Navy's traditional 'Field Gun Run' with their very own child-size guns, under the magnificent gaze of HMS Victory, as well as participating in interactive learning activities on board the Pompey Learning Bus.

The "Get On Board" programme will run initially for the next three years and is already fully booked for the current academic year. It will involve five sessions in school covering themes including diet, captaincy, rivalry and teamwork, comparing the present day with life on board the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's favourite warship, in Tudor times.

All material within the programme complies with the National Curriculum and the field gun run will subsequently be recreated at each participating school. The school-based sessions will be delivered by staff from Portsmouth Football Club's Pompey Study Centre and matched with a session of physical activity delivered by community coaches from the club's Sport & Education Foundation.

The project is funded by The Premier League/Professional Footballers' Association Community Fund, which has provided a £120,000 grant, and is supported by The Football Foundation, the UK's largest sporting charity.

PL/PFA Vice-Chair and Panel Member Mick Dennis stated that: "The largely unappreciated story of the Premier League is how clubs engage with their communities; how they understand the power football has to reach out and do some good.

"Football clubs are so closely identified with the towns and cities in which they are based and the Portsmouth project recognises that and will use it as a way to teach young people about the other, older heritage of the city. It is a brilliant example of what football, and committed clubs can do and makes me proud to be involved with the PL/PFA Community Fund."

"The Get On Board programme will get more children engaged in history and culture," explains Clare Martin, Portsmouth Football Club's Children's Services Officer.

"The Football Club is the vehicle to get them interested and thinking about how different life is now compared with Tudor times. But beyond the end of the programme, participating children will continue to receive Get On Board prizes if they attend other local historical and cultural attractions."

Mary Kinoulty, Head of Learning at the Mary Rose Trust added: "We are delighted to extend our work with the football club into the community. It is a unique project for a museum to work with a football club with such great results, as our partnership encourages young people to connect with their local area, both past and present, and feel proud of their heritage. We are thrilled to be able to offer this joint educational project to Portsmouth primary schools."