Josh Earl, Matt Hudson and Jordan Storey’s visit to Leyland St James’ Church of England Primary School earlier this week was described as being a ‘big bonus’ for the school’s pupils.
The PNE trio visited the school to answer questions from a selection of lucky students, who were able to learn about each player’s journeys to reaching this point in their career within professional football.
Leyland St James’ is a partner school of Preston North End Community and Education Trust – the official charity of Preston North End – where they benefit from delivery of the Premier League Primary Stars programme.
Primary Stars is delivered by PNECET to provide children with high-quality PE provision through cross-curricular lessons that utilise the power and appeal of Preston North End Football Club and football as a whole.
School teachers’ delivery of PE is also upskilled by working PNECET staff through the delivery of the Primary Stars programme.
Leyland St James’ Sport Coordinator Stephen Dunn said: “I think it’s lovely for the children to see real professional footballers. The lads who came in engaged well with the children and took some of their questions.
“The children will remember that someone famous from PNE has come in to speak to them, which is a big bonus for them and something they will look forward to even more now in the future and understand it.
“Hopefully the fact that the lads who came in were able to talk to them about their own journeys and the dedication it took [to become a footballer], maybe it will impact them a little bit and they will be able to think about having the right attitude and learning skills to then move their own PE forward.”
With this Leyland St James’ first year accessing the Primary Stars programme from PNECET, Mr Dunn added that the first impressions thus far have been positive.
“The children really enjoy the sessions. The coaches are very personable and clearly know their subject knowledge and are able to relate to the children who are enjoying a lot of the sessions.
“We’re hoping it carries on and keeps improving and developing as the year goes on.”
For more information about the Primary Stars programme, please email jack.mountain@pne.com.