featured, Schools' Football Week, The World of Schools' Football

Schools’ Football Week in the community- How the campaign is supporting pupils of all ages

Veritas Primary Academy in Stafford teamed up with the Stafford Rangers Academy to show how Schools’ Football Week can benefit pupils of all ages

Schools’ Football Week, in partnership with Pro:Direct Sport, in an ongoing English Schools’ FA initiative, designed as an opportunity for schools from across the country to embrace schools’ football and the wellbeing benefits it provides to pupils and players.

On Tuesday 7 February Veritas Primary Academy in Stafford hosted some fun training sessions for pupils in years 3 to 5, with the help of Stafford Rangers Academy students. The students, who are enrolled in Stafford Rangers’ full-time education and football programme for 16 – 18 year olds, used the opportunity as valuable work experience, to go towards their university applications.

Sam Brown, one of the students enrolled on the course said “Today has been a great opportunity to get work experience, which links to the university courses I’m looking to do. It has given me a good insight into what I have to look forward to.” Sam, who also has experience in playing schools’ football said “Schools’ football is important because it provides an opportunity to play against different people of all different abilities and it’s a great introduction to football. Playing schools’ football is great for all pupils and is really great for your mental health”.

Schools’ Football Week provides a platform every year for 1000s of schools across England to celebrate the many benefits of schools’ football both on and off the pitch, providing opportunities and resources to take football inside the classroom but also for pupils to experience new opportunities and activities.

Kelly Dean, PE Coordinator at Veritas Primary Academy in Stafford said At Veritas Primary Academy we fully embrace Schools’ Football week and all our children from Nursery to Year 6 took part. We had sessions from Stafford Rangers Academy students, Wolves Foundation and Berkswich. The pupils enjoyed special football puddings at lunch, class tournaments, wear a football kit to school day, mindfulness colouring and penalty shootouts. The children and staff had a lot of fun playing football throughout the week.”

The activities carried out by Veritas Primary Academy in Stafford is just a small example of the plethora of SFW celebrations that have taken place across thousands of schools in England this week. Schools’ Football week has seen activity for over a quarter of a million school pupils and over 108,000 girls in England from the 6th – 12th February 2023.

English Schools’ FA Chair, Stuart Botham said, “Schools’ Football Week has been and continues to be, a fantastic platform on which to truly celebrate the many and far reaching benefits of schools’ football. I have been delighted to see the huge increase in participation from schools across England for this 2023 campaign.”

Schools’ Football Week 2023 has been a record-breaking year for activity and promotion and impact will continue to be prevalent throughout the rest of the season.

Photo Credit: 353 Photography

featured, National Competitions, The World of Schools' Football

ESFA National Competitions- Top Goal Scorers

The ESFA National competitions are well underway, there have been over 28,000 goals in all competitions. The ESFA have collated the top goal scorers so far in each ESFA National Schools’ Cup competition which you can view below.

The ESFA National competitions are in full swing with over 5700 fixtures played and over 28,000 goals scored. Below are the current top goal scorers in each competition, these statistics were taken from the start of the season up until Tuesday 15th November.

NameNumber of goalsSchool nameAgeGenderCompetition
Dixon6Branston Community AcademyUnder 12Boys9-a-Side Schools’ Cup for ‘B’ Teams
Keen9Richard Challoner SchoolUnder 12Boys9-a-Side Schools’ Cup
Ward8Ormiston Endeavour AcademyUnder 12Boys9-a-Side Small Schools’ Cup
Brown7St Francis Xavier’s CollegeUnder 12BoysElite Schools’ Cup
Morfitt7South Hunsley School & VI Form CollegeUnder 13BoysElite Schools’ Cup
Meakin9Conyers SchoolUnder 13BoysSchools’ Cup
Thompson10Thomas Telford SchoolUnder 13BoysSchools’ Cup For ‘B’ Teams
Carr9Twycross House SchoolUnder 13BoysSmall Schools’ Trophy
Makris5Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for BoysUnder 14BoysElite Schools’ Cup
Player12Norlington School & VI FormUnder 14BoysSchools’ Cup
Hulme8Co-op Academy WalkdenUnder 14BoysSchools’ Cup for ‘B’ Teams
Dunn4Wrekin CollegeUnder 14BoysSmall Schools’ Trophy
Barnes4High Tunstall College of ScienceUnder 15BoysElite Schools’ Cup
McWilliam9St John’s School & VI Form College –Under 15BoysSchools’ Cup
de Mel4Hampton SchoolUnder 15BoysSchools’ Cup for ‘B’ Teams
Shorland5Pool AcademyUnder 15BoysSmall Schools’ Trophy
Donnahey5Litherland High SchoolUnder 15BoysSmall Schools’ Trophy
Pranish5LVS AscotUnder 15BoysSmall Schools’ Trophy
Kvaternik4Wright Robinson CollegeUnder 16BoysElite Schools’ Cup
McCormick5Cardinal Heenan Catholic High SchoolUnder 16BoysSchools’ Cup for ‘B’ Teams
Manby7Oriel High SchoolUnder 16BoysSchools’ Cup
Opoku4Sir Herbert Leon AcademyUnder 16BoysSmall Schools’ Cup
Thompson3Wath AcademyUnder 18BoysSchools’ Cup for B Teams
Jenner7St Peter’s Catholic High School & VI Form CentreUnder 18BoysSchools’ Trophy
Guy9Stratford Upon Avon SchoolUnder 12Girls9-a-Side Schools’ Cup
Myatt13St Peter’s Catholic High School & VI Form CentreUnder 13Girls9-a-Side Schools’ Cup
Emily15Bristol Free SchoolUnder 14GirlsSchools’ Cup
Myatt13St Peter’s Catholic High School & VI Form CentreUnder 14GirlsSchools’ Cup
Eva17Woodcote High SchoolUnder 15GirlsSchools’ Cup
Tilly B9Fulford SchoolUnder 16GirlsSchools’ Cup
Hare5Thomas Telford SchoolUnder 18GirlsSchools’ Trophy

Congratulations to all the the players who have made this list and we wish all the teams good luck in their respective competitions. Keep tagging @schoolsfootball in your teams results on social media and the ESFA will continue to celebrate the success of the students involved.