Football Forward
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Football Forward

Our one-year pilot project, Football Forward, supported by The Football Association will be working with primary schools in Brent and Tower Hamlets to encourage and create opportunities for young girls, from minoritized communities, to get involved in football and sports. Through active listening, interactive and creative workshops, we aim to place the voice and needs of girls at the heart of the project, to better understand how girls want to engage with football and sports in school.

This project will work primarily with Year 5 and 6 schoolgirls.  


What to Expect
1. CPD for teachers: Two 90-minute sessions to equip teachers with the tools to hold discussions around sports through a UN Sustainable Development Goals framework focussing on gender equality, reduced inequality, and good health and well-being. Teachers will also think about how best to support the girls in their school to play football.

2. In-school workshops: 3 workshops to actively listen to young girls about the conversations they want to have around sports. We will have some themes to direct and frame conversations and learning.

  • The Global Stadium – a creative session where students explore themes around identity and belonging to design a football shirt.  
  • What is a team? Competition and Collaboration. Team-building, football skills and careers in sports.  
  • Representation in Football – Gender Equality and Diversity in Football. Mental health and wellbeing. 

3. Class trip to Wembley Stadium: this day trip will allow a Year 5 or 6 class from each school to visit the stadium and deepen their learning of the holistic benefits of engagement with football or another sport.

4. School Exhibition: each school will exhibit and share their learning from this project through an exhibition of their football shirt designs and/or an assembly. Schools will also be encouraged to share what their students have done with the school community through the school newsletter and website.

Timeline 

  • September 2023 – October 2023: CPD Teacher Training sessions to be held after school. 
  • Jan 2024 – March 2024: The three workshops for school students will be held during this time. Two will be led by GLL. One to be led by a Football Coach, which will involve a physical activity/competition. The FA will arrange the football coach.
  • March 2024: Schools exhibition. 
  • End of March 2024: Workshop with a grassroot club workshop will be held. 
  • The date for the visit to Wembley Stadium will be confirmed by September 2023.

Registration for this years project has now closed. If you’d like to be kept up to date with any future cohorts for Football Forward, then please register interest here: https://bit.ly/FF-Register

For more details, please contact Fatema at  fatema.zehra@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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