primary schools – English Schools' Football Association

The ESFA and Panini were delighted to visit Oliver from year 6 at St Gilbert’s RC Primary School in Manchester last month, to present his prizes for winning the 2022 Classroom Challenge, based on the Premier League Official Sticker Collection 2022.

The design-a-football boot competition, which ran throughout January, saw a staggering 10,000 entries from hundreds of schools across England, in what would be the most popular Classroom Challenge to date. Oliver’s design saw him win a presentation from Panini, where he was awarded with a £2,000 cheque for his school, a £50 Amazon voucher for himself, plus a football shirt of his choice.

Nick Clark, Special Project Editor for Panini UK said, “We were astounded by the number of entries received for the ‘Design a Football’ competition, the quality and hard work that pupils put into their designs was incredible. Oliver’s winning boot was wonderfully imaginative and certainly impressed our judging panel. A big well done to Oliver and the school for winning, it was an honour to visit the school and present them with their prizes.”

A New Challenge for a New School Year

September 2022 sees the 9^th Panini Classroom Challenge introduced to primary schools in England with a chance for the winners to bag £2,000 for their school, plus prizes for the winning pupil, presented in school by the Panini team.

This latest challenge, celebrating Panini’s FIFA World Cup Quatar 2022™ Official Sticker Collection, will see participating schools receive a box of Panini goodies for their pupils, including the Classroom Challenge worksheets. The team will be asking pupils embrace a real challenge this time – designing their very own Panini sticker album cover, to secure a place in the running for the prize!

Schools can register to take part in this latest activity by clicking the link below, but hurry – there is only space for 3,000 schools to sign up!

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ClassroomChallenge2022

Registered schools will receive their Panini Classroom Challenge goodies in the new school year, in early September 2022, and the competition will run from 19^th September – 7^th October 2022.

Don’t forget to register your school today!

The English Schools' FA

The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.

On Friday 6th May 2022, Primary Schools from across England, travelled to the CBS Arena in Coventry to attend the ESFA U11 7v7 Inter-School Primary School Finals. The event saw the best primary school teams in the country competing for the title of National Champions.

The ESFA U11 7v7 Inter-School competitions have been contested across England from the start of the 2021/22 season, with teams having to progress through District, County and Regional rounds to qualify for the prestigious national final. This intense qualification process makes the achievement of competing in these National Finals, an impressive achievement for all the teams involved. Three National titles were up for grabs – the School Teams’ Cup, Girls’ Cup and Small Schools’ Cup.

The event kicked off with the group stages, where the 8 qualified teams were split into two groups. The group stages was played in a round robin format and the top two teams progressed to the knockout stages of the their respective competitions. These teams then progressed to the semi-finals and eventually the final, where the teams faced 16 minutes of football for a chance to lift the trophy.

The Schools’ Team Cup Final was up first between Manor Lodge School from Hertfordshire and St Marys Catholic Primary School from Kent. St Marys Catholic High School came away with a 3-1 Victory in the Final to be crowned National Champions!

The Girls’ Cup final was up next between Days Lane Primary School from Kent and Valley Garden’s Middle School from Cheshire. Days Lane, after coming second in their group to their fellow finalists came away with a 2-0 win to lift the trophy.

The Small Schools’ Cup Final rounded off the day with St Paul’s CofE Primary School from Kent facing Kingsland CofE Primary School from Herefordshire. The final was a fantastic advert for Schools’ football with late goals and a dramatic penalty shootout to decide the winner. Kingsland CofE Primary School eventually came out on top and were crowned National Champions.

It was fantastic to see so many talented young footballers enjoying playing football with their school friends and getting to experience what it is like to play in a professional football stadium.

The full set of results from the day can be found here.

Stay tuned for a round up video of the event, capturing all the key action alongside interviews with the players and team management staff.