Richard Luscombe Argyle Community Trust will be represented by Bickleigh Down CofE Primary School in the South West regional heats of the Premier League Primary Stars National Girls tournament in Bristol today, in a bid to claim their place at the 2023 finals.
Ten regional tournaments will be staged at community facilities across the country, with hundreds of young people representing Premier League, EFL and National League clubs hoping to win the opportunity to play at Elland Road, home of Leeds United, in the playing kit of their respective professional football club.
Last year, more than 800 young people took part in the regional events. Caerleon Lodge Primary School, representing Newport County, are the current champions having won the tournament in 2022 at Vicarage Road.
The National Girls Football Tournament is one of the competition elements of the Premier League Primary Stars programme. Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of football to help children to be active and develop essential life skills.
Premier League Head of Community Nick Perchard said: “The Premier League Primary Stars National Girls Tournament creates an amazing opportunity for girls from across England and Wales to come together and represent their professional football clubs. The regional tournaments help to get more girls into football and bring young people together from diverse backgrounds.”
Premier League Primary Stars enables teachers to use resources across English, PSHE, PE and Maths, to support children to develop skills and values that are crucial to success in later life. Currently 104 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local partner schools.
Argyle Community Trust Primary Stars Lead Dom Luongo said: “We are delighted to be represented by the amazing girls at Bickleigh Primary. This tournament offers further opportunities for them to play other teams in the region after their victory at the local tournament.
160 girls from 16 schools attended the local competition at Manadaon Sports Hub over our 4-week cluster league for year 5 and 6 students. We are proud to continue to promote opportunities and inclusion for girls in sport.”
The free primary school programme provides teachers and parents with downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 (age 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (age 7-11), developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with experts such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association.
More than 60,000 teachers have signed up to access free online national curriculum-linked resources.
For more information on the Argyle Community Trust PL Primary Stars programme visit https://argylecommunitytrust.co.uk/what-we-do/schools/pl-primary-stars/.
