Jason Puncheon went back to his old school recently to see how the Crystal Palace Foundation are encouraging young people in reading and keeping active with the Premier League Primary Stars programme.
The Eagles midfielder joined Director of U21 Development Mark Bright and Palace Ladies international star Pam McRoberts in a visit to Rockmount Primary School in Upper Norwood, filmed by Match of the Day for their regular Premier League Communities feature.
They joined in with a reading session with a small group of pupils before taking to the sports hall to get involved in a netball-inspired PE lesson.
And they saw how having a full-time Foundation coach in school has helped youngsters in a variety of subjects, including numeracy and literacy, supporting children who are finding reading and speaking difficult.
"It's nice to see the children read and to have the confidence to be able to do that in front of cameras," Puncheon said. "It is really good to see that there is a CPFC Foundation coach working full time at the school, which is in the local area to Crystal Palace and these young children are supporting us week in week out."
Crystal Palace Foundation's PL Primary Stars programme works with 30 schools and more than 3,500 children and incude reading and active maths, to social skills and nurture groups, as well as physical education and school sport.
PL Primary Stars part funds a full-time Foundation coach to be embedded in nine schools, working every day to deliver all aspects of the initiative.
"It's been fantastic having a full-time sports specialist in school," said Rockmount Primary assistant head teacher Dan Hall. "It's something that you dream about."
There was another surprise for the children as Puncheon presented the school with a brand-new football kit as part of the Premier League Players' Kit Scheme.
The Scheme allows footballers to donate a football kit to a school of their choice, and the midfielder used the visit as the perfect opportunity to make his personal donation.
See: Crystal Palace FC Foundation
