Five years of PL Primary Stars: Godolphin Academy's story

The Premier League is celebrating five years of its schools programme, Premier League Primary Stars.

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. More than 58,000 teachers have signed up to access free online national curriculum-linked resources.

The Godolphin Junior Academy (Slough)

The emotional and mental wellbeing of pupils at The Godolphin Junior Academy in Slough are key elements that have benefitted by working with Premier League Primary Stars.

"Having a global brand like the Premier League is really important for us at Godolphin," says vice-principal, Letitia Powell.

"Our pupils are becoming more active, always engaged in their lessons, they're inspired by seeing footballers as well.

"The main aims for us are that we have happy children, confident children and they're emotionally well and mentally well. This programme fits in perfectly with that."

By running wellbeing lessons and equipping young people with ways to develop friendships, the pupils are building their confidence and mental strength both at school and in the outside world. 

"It's really good because ever since we've joined the Premier League Wellbeing Stars I feel like my wellbeing has been better with all the tips," says one pupil.

Another young student highlights how the programme has helped as an individual and also thinking about others.

"One thing that I learned from the Premier League is to always be resilient, even if I fall back," he adds.

"All the Primary Star classes have taught me is to make sure that we help people that are feeling lonely in the playground, even in the classroom to make them feel more at home in school."

Get involved

When Premier League Primary Stars launched five years ago its mission was to support teachers, using football to inspire children in the classroom and on the sports field.

The Godolphin Junior Academy is one of more than 18,500 primary schools in England and Wales working with Premier League Primary Stars, and has been involved in the programme for the past year.

"Initially through seeing the resources we thought that it [Premier League Primary Stars] was really inspiring and really inclusive as well," adds Powell.

"As those resources were prepared for us we were able to adapt them to see how it best suited the needs of our school."

The free resources have been created in collaboration with teachers and experts such as such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association, can be found by clicking on the link here.

Visit PLPrimaryStars.com for more information.

Also in this series

Part 1: Premier League celebrates five years of Primary Stars
Part 2: William's story (Leicester City)
Part 3: Harry's story (Forest Green Rovers)
Part 4: Stephanie's story (Charlton Athletic)
Part 5: Faizan's story (Burnley)
Part 7: Freya's story (Newport County)
Part 8: Delia's story (Everton)