Twelve schools from London and Surrey recently competed in Chelsea Foundation’s Premier League Primary Stars Road to Cobham finals and for two of them, the experience of playing at a Premier League stadium is the reward for their success.
Premier League Primary Stars is the Premier League’s primary school education programme. Funded by the Premier League through the Premier League Charitable Fund, the programme uses the appeal of football to help children be active and develop essential life skills.
Through both in-class education sessions and on-pitch competition, the Primary Stars programme educates children through four core values:
* **Be ambitious** - work hard and never give up on your goals
* **Be inspiring** - set a great example to others
* **Be connected** \- work well with others and in a team
* **Be fair** - treat people equally and think of others
Regional tournaments in both Mixed and Girls categories were held in London, Surrey and Kingston, with the winners and runners-up being rewarded with a place in the final at our Cobham training ground. The chance to represent the Chelsea Foundation at the national Premier League Primary Stars final at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium was the incentive for the winning schools.
Before the event kicked off, Chelsea Academy players [Leo Cardoso](/en/teams/profile/leo-cardoso) and [Shaun Wade](/en/teams/profile/shaun-wade), who had both played in similar tournaments in primary school, held a Q&A with students to talk about their journey to becoming an academy player at a professional club.
After playing six matches to reach the final of the event, Latchmere School defeated Honeywell School 1-0 in the Girls Competition, with West London School beating Ellingham 1-0 in the Mixed event. The winning schools were presented with the Chelsea shirts they will wear at Molineaux by Chelsea Women’s Academy players Sydney, Sude and Lois.
Mr Joseph from West London School said: ‘The grounding rules of the Premier League Primary Stars about inspiration, team-work, working together and the core skills around respect and inclusivity is central, so building on the framework set by Chelsea where we put together out video blog, which talked about inspiration and empowerment, this was the catalyst. I’m proud of how the boys took that into consideration and from that framework they had the mindset of how to approach a game of football on the pitch.’
Mr Ayers from Latchmere School said: ‘The Premier League Primary Stars, with the four key values of the competition, it is really important to install that in the students and doing that through the means of sport is fantastic. From an organisation and logistical perspective, it has been brilliant working with Chelsea Foundation. Both the children and school staff have loved it.’
Victor Odeyemi, senior schools education officer at Chelsea Foundation, added: ‘Giving the students the chance to compete at a world-class facility like the Cobham training ground whilst instilling the core values of Premier League Primary Stars is a powerful educational tool. All schools involved have showed great understanding of the values both in the classroom and on the pitch. Congratulations to West London and Latchmere Schools and good luck at Molineux!’