schools football week – English Schools' Football Association

With the 2024 Schools’ Football Week campaign, in partnership with Pro:Direct Sport, all over for another year, The English Schools’ FA (ESFA) take a look back at the week that saw over 260,000 pupils from over 1200 schools take part in schools’ football activity from 5 – 11th February

ESFA Live Draws

To kick off the SFW celebrations, The ESFA streamed its quarter and semi-final draws of the 34 PlayStation Schools’ Cup and Arnold Clark Schools’ Cup competitions to an audience of over 6,000 viewers. The draws, featuring over 200 school teams from U12 – U18 were shown from 5pm on the ESFA’s YouTube channel, ESFA TV.

Schools’ Football Week Big Competition

The ESFA, along with Schools’ Football Week partners Pro:Direct Sport, ran the Schools’ Football Week Big Competition , challenging pupils to design their very own England shirts. The ESFA and Pro:Direct team have seen lots of exciting designs being submitted during Schools’ Football Week and it will be a big challenge to choose a winner. The competition remains open to entries so make sure to submit yours to [email protected] before 5pm on Friday 16th February.

The winners will be announced on or around 28th February so make sure to keep an eye out to see if your design has been shortlisted.

Schools’ Football Week on social media

The ESFA was once again overwhelmed to see the amount of Schools’ Football Week activity taking place in schools across the country. From classroom decorations, inter-house matches, keepy-uppy competitions and visits from professional footballers, it has been amazing to see over 260,000 pupils getting involved in Schools’ football week this year. Take a look at some of the best bits below:

Additional campaign highlights

As part of the Schools’ Football Week celebrations, England Lioness and current PlayStation Schools’ Cup Ambassador Chloe Kelly hosted a PE session at Irlam & Cadishead Academy in Manchester along with her fellow ambassador SV2. When interviewed during the visit, Chloe Kelly described how she played for both the girls’ & boys’ football teams at school. The English Schools’ FA has records of Chloe representing her school, Elthorne Park High School’s girls’ football teams at both U15 and U16 in 2012 and 2013, in the ESFA National Schools’ Cup competitions, with Kelly recorded as scoring several goals in National Cup fixtures.

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A post shared by Chloe Kelly (@chloekelly)

The ESFA team visited Hawbush Primary School in Dudley to gain some insight into what they were up to for Schools’ Football Week 2024. Salford FC defender, Curtis Tilt, gave a great presentation to the pupils on his career and conducted a Q&A session with the children involved. The school had also been giving lessons on “giving racism the red card” and decorated their classrooms in the colours of professional football clubs in their area.

To round off Schools’ Football Week 2024 the England U15 Schoolgirls and England U18 Schoolboys travelled to St George’s Park for their preparatory training camps and were presented with their brand new Arnold Clark branded England shirts. For a full roundup of the training camps, click here.

The ESFA’s ambition is to continue to grow Schools’ Football Week year on year, but also use key data received from the 1,200+ schools that register their interest to find ways to create new and additional activity for those schools that are passionate about providing these opportunities to children, particularly within girls’ football.

The Association would like to thank all of the schools, teachers, Associations, Community Trusts and players that supported the 2024 campaign and look forward to seeing how Schools’ Football Week will continue to tell stories of schools’ football in 2024 and increase activity once again for February 2025.

Photo credit: 353 Photography

The English Schools' FA

The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.

The 2024 Schools’ Football Week campaign, in partnership with Pro:Direct Sport, has got off to a flying start, with schools across England creating amazing opportunities for their pupils to get involved in football-related activities from the 5 – 11 February.

Already we know that –

Over 260,000 pupils benefitting from Schools’ Football Week activity
Almost 120,000 girls taking part in activity as a result of the campaign
PlayStation Schools’ Cup ambassador and Lioness, Chloe Kelly celebrate Schools’ Football Week at Manchester school, Irlam & Cadishead Academy
Over 1,200 schools across the country introduce football into week-long activities both on and off the pitch

The campaign, which has captured the imagination of school teachers across England has proved incredibly popular over the last 5 years, with participation reaching an all-time high in 2024. Speaking to the ESFA today, Ryan Pratt of Hawbush Primary School in Dudley said: “There’s been a lot of happy children, a lot of smiles on their faces. When I found out about it [schools’ football week] I wanted to do something, to promote football in schools it’s really good, especially in areas like Hawbush, where there’s not a lot of local clubs if we can offer something here for this week, hopefully we can get a lot of interest for our school football teams and hopefully we’ll have more parents asking how they can sign up and get involved.”

When interviewed by pupils at Irlam & Cadishead Academy in Manchester, during a visit planned to celebrate SFW, PlayStation Schools’ Cup ambassador, Chloe Kelly described how she played for both the girls’ & boys’ football teams at school. The English Schools’ FA has records of Chloe representing her school, Elthorne Park High School’s girls’ football teams at both U15 and U16 in 2012 and 2013, in the ESFA National Schools’ Cup competitions, with Kelly recorded as scoring several goals in National Cup fixtures.

To kick off the SFW celebrations, The English Schools’ FA streamed its quarter and semi-final draws of the 34 PlayStation Schools’ Cup and Arnold Clark Schools’ Cup competitions to an audience of over 6,000 viewers. The draws, featuring over 200 school teams from U12 – U18 were shown from 5pm on the ESFA’s YouTube channel, ESFA TV.

At the end of the week, the ESFA’s England U15 Schoolgirls and U18 Schoolboys squads will be heading to St George’s Park from Friday 9^th February to take part in their international training camp, playing their first friendly fixtures as England squads against their Independent Schools’ FA (ISFA) counterparts.

Prior to the SFW celebrations, schools were provided with resources and opportunities to win football equipment for their activities, an assembly from award winning author of the Jamie Johnson football series, Dan Freedman and the chance for pupils to design their own England kit thanks to Pro:Direct Sport and Nike, with two winning designs to be turned into physical shirts for the winning artists to receive. The Association has seen photos of competition entries flooding in throughout the week, across social media channels. Schools’ Football Week has also promoted resources from the PLCF’S Premier League Primary Stars website, for schools to utilise to enrich their SFW classroom activity.

Marvin Robinson, ESFA Chair said: “This campaign has consistently been a remarkable platform for celebrating the extensive benefits of school football. Collaborating with Pro:Direct allows the ESFA to extend our reach and share our enthusiasm for this initiative more widely than ever.

I eagerly anticipate the variety of activities scheduled by schools throughout this week, I am delighted to witness the continued growth and impact of this campaign in 2024 and look forward to seeing some of the activities taking place in schools from the 5^th – 11^th February. This year, the training camp for our England U15 Schoolgirls and U18 Schoolboys will also coincide with the end of Schools’ Football Week, and it is fantastic that those representing schools’ football at the highest level, will be able to do so and play their first friendly fixtures against ISFA, during the week-long celebrations”