Students from Fulham FC Foundation’s Premier League Inspires programme were recently involved in a Social Action Finals Event at Craven Cottage.
Youth social action is about young people coming together to make a positive difference to their local community, and, through the Social Action Challenge, these students have been doing exactly that.
On the afternoon of Thursday 9th February, five groups from our Premier League Inspires programme, representing Raynes Park High School and The Elmgreen School, were invited to Craven Cottage to present their social action ideas to a panel of judges in a ‘Dragons Den’ style competition.
The Premier League Inspires programme works with ‘at risk’ or ‘marginalised’ secondary school students, who need extra support at school to fulfil their academic potential. It does this through a weekly, targeted intervention that improves their attainment and engagement at school.
This finals event was the culmination of our social action competition, which has seen teams from various partner secondary schools enter their social action ideas in order to win a £100 prize fund to deliver their project. Each team has worked in class over the past two months to identify issues affecting their local community and develop a project that helps address this issue. From all these entries, teams were shortlisted and invited to present their projects to a panel of judges who would decide which was the most impactful.
The opportunity to design a project and deliver a presentation aimed to develop key skills in young people outside of their usual school experience. Being the first time any of these students had given a presentation, they were incredibly nervous, but once finished they were able to see how the experience helped them develop for the future.
"To see so many young people from our PL Inspires programme being so passionate about positively effecting their school communities was amazing. Not only this, but to stand and present their ideas in front of six judges at the age of 13/14 was incredible to see. All the groups did a fantastic job and we now can’t wait to see their projects come to life." - Richard Morris, Secondary Education & Careers Manager at Fulham FC Foundation.
"Social action is important for young people because it provides the opportunity for them to learn and develop their skills and put things into action that make a difference in their community. It gives them a voice, empowers them to do projects that are youth led, work together and gives them a whole range of skills that social action encompasses." - Lucy Peirce, Education Programmes Executive, The Premier League Charitable Fund.
All the groups did an amazing job in showcasing their projects, making it a very difficult decision for our panel. However, a winner did have to be chosen to be our Fulham FC Foundation representative at the Premier League Inspires Challenge Finals and this group was the Eco Stars from The Elmgreen School.
To find out more about the Premier League Inspires programme please contact Fulham FC Foundation via email.
