From this September, Colchester United's Football in the Community scheme will be supporting more schools than ever throughout north Essex.
The FITC team continues to create and provide enriching opportunities to support local schools for the new 2022/23 academic year.
As a charitable organisation, it is our pledge to provide cost-effective support of national curriculum and extra-curriculum provision for local schools, using highly trained delivery staff who can deliver high quality provision consistently throughout the year.
Our pledge allows us to maintain and develop long lasting relationships and partnerships between schools in North Essex and their local professional football club.
Support for local schools for the new academic year has increased from September 2021 as members of our Community Team continue to enhance and enrich the education programmes we deliver during the school day with our partner schools.
Over the 2021/22 academic year, we’ve continued to consult with partner schools to find ways to support them further within areas of the national curriculum, extracurricular sporting opportunities and support of school staff.
This includes support of the national curriculum not only in Physical Education and Sport, but also within Literacy, Numeracy, PSHE and Health & Wellbeing.
This includes support programmes for SEND pupils, one to one pupil mentoring, academic interventions and teacher and school support staff training, alongside creating opportunities for competitive sport competitions and participation festivals.
We continue to work with our national funding partners The Premier league Charitable Foundation and The EFL Trust who support our Sport & Education Team with funding to enhance a cross curricular approach within our support to local schools within the following areas:
- Premier League Reading Stars (Literacy)
- Premier League Story Stars (Literacy)
- Premier League Magazine Stars (Literacy)
- Premier League Maths Stars (Numeracy)
- Premier League Self Development Stars (PSHE)
- #IWill Social Action (PSHE)
- EFL Trust Joy of Moving Programme (PSHE)
- EFL Trust Joy of Moving Festivals (PSHE)
- Premier league PE Support for Teacher/School Support Staff (PE & Sport)
- EFL Kids Cup (Competitive Sport)
- EFL Kids Girls Cup (Competitive Sport)
- Premier League Festivals (Participation Sport)
In January 2022, we had the opportunity to invite local schools to the Colchester United fixture vs Leyton Orient, where we hosted our first Schools Networking Event since the pandemic.
This was a great opportunity to network, listen to schools needs and consult with local schools and research how we can develop our programmes even further to support their needs.
In May, we had our Community Day at the JobServe Community Stadium where pupils from local schools had the opportunity to attend the stadium and participate in sporting activities on the pitch and celebrate the fantastic work that has been achieved that academic year.
As we head into the new academic year, we are consistently looking to enhance our cost-effective support of local schools within Physical Education and offer more additional educational opportunities to engage and enrich the opportunities available for pupils and staff.
After consultation with partner schools, we’re developing support within Dance and Yoga to support further opportunities to enhance wellbeing and creativity within children.
Alongside this, we are exploring Paralympic sports to enhance SEND coverage and exploring other avenues to provide higher quality Physical Education to schools.
As we head into the 2022/23 academic year, we’re proud to have on board over a record number of Primary Schools as club partners, as we strive to support as many schools as possible in our communities by enriching the educational and sporting opportunities available to their pupils and staff.
Interested in finding out more about the support Colchester United Football in the Community provides to local schools in your community?
Sport & Education programmes 2022-23 Info Pack – CLICK HERE
Visit our webpage – https://www.cu-fc.com/fitc/our-programmes/education/
Or contact our Sport & Education Team – Fitcsport&eductaion@colchesterunited.net