Education through Football

The Chelsea Football Club and Westminster Archives ‘Education through Football’ initiative began in September 2003 with children using materials provided by the Archives to understand how Britain has changed since 1948 (QCA Unit 13).

Participating schools read ‘Billy the Kid’ by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman, a story about a local boy who plays for Chelsea FC as war breaks out. To support teachers a literacy/illustration workshop is run at Stamford Bridge by Michael Foreman. The visit to Stamford Bridge also includes a tour of the ground and the club's museum.  To further enhance learning on the project, Westminster Archives Education and Interpretation Officer, Peter Daniel and Chelsea FC Education Officer Wendy Buddin run a full day story telling and artefact handling session at each school.  Pupils learn about the beginnings of the cold war through the famous Moscow Dynamo match at Stamford Bridge in 1945 and then have the opportunity to compare the life of Chelsea FC legend Roy Bentley, captain of their 1955 Championship winning team with the life of current Chelsea stars.

Forty two primary school classes participate, half of which are from Westminster.

This programme has proved a great way for schoolchildren to learn in a unique and exciting way.  It has allowed them to develop their skills in history, literacy and citizenship with Chelsea Football Club as the focus. At Hallfield Junior School, Paddington, the programme has had a strong impact on the selected children. Most of the children had either English as an additional language or were reluctant reader/writers. They were unusually enthusiastic about all proposed activities and even wrote creative little pieces that were surprisingly of good quality.  The children were so enthusiastic that they worked with their class teachers to produce an end of year show based around Billy the Kid.

 ”What has really impressed us about this project is its cross-curricular nature. It is extremely rare in Year 6 to maintain a broad and balanced curriculum with the pressure of standard assessment tests (SATS). The project has enabled us to do just that. Schemes of work of this calibre are extremely rare. The response from the children so far has been overwhelmingly positive.”    Lara Coyler, Year 6 Team Leader, English Coordinator, Hallfield Junior School

Twenty two Westminster classes are now involved in the initiative, which is in its sixth successful year of bringing to life history, literacy and citizenship in the classroom by learning through football with Chelsea FC.  These are split between a summer phase run between May and July and an autumn phase run between September and November each year.

As part of Black History awareness the schools also learn about the experiences of post war immigrants to this country, the "Windrush generation" through the life story of Chelsea F.C.'s first black footballer Paul Canoville.  An animated film made by Westminster archives at Pimlico library is used to introduce Paul to children who then have an opportunity to question him about his experiences.