Southend United FC will be represented by Kents Hill Junior School in the London regional events of the Premier League Primary Stars U11 National Girls Football Tournament, in a bid to claim their place at the 2023 finals.
Ten regional events will be staged at community facilities across the country, with hundreds of young people representing Premier League, English Football League and National League clubs hoping to win the opportunity to play at Elland Road, home of Leeds United FC, 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, Watford.
The U11 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 U11 National Girls Football Tournament creates an amazing opportunity for girls from across England and Wales to come together and represent their professional football clubs. The regional events 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, Maths, PE and PSHE, to support children to develop skills and values that are crucial to success in later life. Currently 103 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local partner schools.
Dan King (PLPS Lead) – ‘’The Premier League Primary Stars programme uses the appeal of the Premier League and Southend United to inspire children to learn, be active and develop important life skills. Over the past four years, I have definitely seen the positive impact the Primary Stars programme has had on our local community. Seeing children learning new skills, improving their physical and mental wellbeing and having fun is great to see. Teachers have also benefited massively from the programme by working closely with Southend United Community & Educational Trust sport coaches to develop their knowledge and skills to be able to deliver a beneficial PE lesson.’’
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 subject 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.