Preston North End Community and Education Trust are proud to be working with the National Literacy Trust to deliver the Game Changers programme.
Game Changers is a new programme that uses the power of football to improve the reading skills and motivation of students who have been excluded from mainstream education.
Funded by BT Supporters Club through Comic Relief, Game Changers combines football-themed reading lessons, practical football activities and role models from the Trust to boost excluded young people’s reading skills and life chances.
Young people who are excluded from mainstream education have some of the poorest outcomes in education, health and life. From January 2020, we will help to turn this around by using football to support the reading skills of pupils at our current Pupil Referral Unit partner schools in and around Preston.
Harriet Creighton-Levis, Assistant Head of the Trust, said: “As Preston’s local professional football club and Community Trust, it is almost our duty to help combat the literacy issue that Pupil Referral Unit schools are facing, with only one per cent of excluded pupils achieving five good GCSEs.
“Through this fantastic new initiative – alongside our current Secondary School Education programme – we’re hoping that we can encourage more pupils to read, and enjoy it!
“Football can play such an important role in a child’s development, so it’s vital that we are educating pupils through literacy – using an array of sporting examples through classroom-based and physical activity sessions, we hope to inspire and raise pupils aspirations through the sport they love.”
Tim Judge, Senior Programme Manager for Sport and Literacy at the National Literacy Trust, said: “Excluded students deserve to have the same opportunities as their peers in school.
"We know from 20 years of experience that football can provide a vital route into reading for students who are disengaged and disenfranchised with education.
"With the support of Preston North End Community and Education Trust, Game Changers will use the power of football to transform the life chances of young people who face some of the greatest barriers to success at school and in life.”
For more information about the Game Changers programme, click here.