Last Friday saw a special visitor return to the area when the Premier League Trophy was showcased by students at two schools in Blackburn with Darwen.
Rovers, who won the trophy when Sir Kenny Dalglish’s side became champions of England in 1994-95, are just one of seven teams to have lifted the greatest prize in English football and there was a buzz of excitement as the trophy came back to the town.
St Silas Primary School were to thank for this unique occasion after the school had been picked out of thousands of applicants after their headteacher Michele Battersby had entered the draw following the school signing up to the Premier League Primary Stars programme, which is provided by Blackburn Rovers Community Trust.
The Premier League Primary Stars programme sees children aged 5-11 take part in a variety of activities based on the national curriculum framed around the Premier League’s values of being ambitious, inspiring, connected and fair.
As one of our partner schools we provide support in St Silas’ Physical Education lessons as well as providing lunchtime and after-school clubs to help keep the students active.
The children all got the opportunity to have their photo taken with the trophy, as well as enjoying an assembly that was delivered by the Premier League Trophy Ambassador Team, before they were put to task in a game of bench ball and a Premier League Values workshop.
That afternoon we then took the trophy to one of our newest partner schools, Darwen Aldridge Community Academy where we will be running our Premier League Inspires programme.
Premier League Inspires is a mentoring programme for secondary school students utilising one-to-one and group interventions to engage students at risk of not achieving their full potential.
The programme does this via the power of football to develop personal skills and positive attitudes and the students enjoyed getting a selfie and finding out all about the trophy.
