featured, National Schools' Football Week

Throwback Thursday: A trip to King Edward VI Handsworth School for Schools’ Football Week

On Wednesday 26th May we sent our official photographer to King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls to cover their schools’ football week activity! This is what they got up to…

On the week of 24-28th May, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls (KEVI) hosted Schools’ Football Week, an official campaign that was held around the country to highlight the huge scale of Schools’ Football in England. Over 100,000 players and around 8,000 teams of children took part. At KEVI, there was a mixture of different activities and challenges for everyone, ranging from a penalty shootout competition, keepy-uppy challenge, cross bar challenge, poster competitions, football assembly and house competitions. They were also part of a special event on Wednesday 26 May called Schools Football Week- Game On! where schools from across England were invited to play Covid-safe matches and tournaments, creating the “Ëœworld’s biggest football match!’ 

Giles Ip, PE Teacher from KEVI said “The House football events for Year 7, 8 and 9 took place in May as part of Schools’ football week and we were lucky that the weather was sunny and we were able to play each event with minimal disruption. All pupils played and took part in the competitions in very good spirits, with very positive attitudes and the level of competition was high. The football was extremely competitive, and it was so pleasing to see all our students get involved and enjoy it.”

“The Year 12’s came out victorious against the teachers in an epic battle of teacher vs students. The teachers took the lead but ended up losing 9-6 in front of a packed crowd in the sports hall.

We also held a football poster competition where students had to design a kit or poster about the benefits of football/no room for racism in football.”

Mr Ip continued, “We felt that Schools’ Football Week was a great opportunity to embrace Schools’ Football and the wellbeing benefits it provides to all pupils and players. We also ran an assembly to reflect this. It was an opportunity for everyone to get outside, have fun and enjoy being able to play football with their school friends, competitively or otherwise”.  

“We had an official photographer from the ESFA (English Schools’ Football Association) who came in to take some photographs of some of our pupils in action. We are delighted that they are going to use them on their website and social media channels!”

He added, “A huge big thank you to all those who took part, including staff who supported the activities.”

A big thank you to KEVI for allowing us to attend their school and capture their amazing Schools’ Football Week Activity, we are glad you enjoyed your events!

National Schools' Football Week

Schools’ Football Week – Game On! launches for 2021

The campaign to play the ‘World’s Biggest Football Match’ takes place tomorrow (26 May) across England.

As part of the ESFA’s Schools’ Football Week campaign, Schools’ Football Week – Game On! was created to encourage as much footballing activity to take place across the country on one day. Over 400 schools have registered ‘Game On!’ activity in advance of Schools’ Football Week, equating to over 70,000 players and around 6,000 teams of children. The brief was simple – just to play any form of football on Wednesday 26th May, from inter-house tournaments to a match with jumpers for goalposts at lunchtime – and the uptake has been fantastic.

The ESFA will be leading the way in terms of footballing activity tomorrow by hosting the U13 PlayStation F.C. Schools’ Cup Final at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium. The match sees Glenmoor & Winton Academies (Bournemouth) take on Hurstmere School (North Kent) in the much anticipated 2019/20 cup final.

The match will be the first in over 12 months that is admitting spectators and will be streamed live online via the ESFA’s YouTube channel (ESFA TV) for all keen football fans to tune into. The ESFA’s Director of Operations, Darren Alcock said “We are delighted to be able to host this National Final not only during Schools’ Football Week, but also as part of the ‘Game On!’ activity. The uptake of Schools’ Football Week by schools, Associations and other sports providers for 2021 has been fantastic. It’s been a very difficult 12 months and this has felt like a real opportunity for children to get outside, have fun and enjoy playing football with their friends. We are very grateful for the opportunity to host this event at Selhurst Park and it will be fantastic to welcome along the teams, but also spectators for this prestigious event. We wish both teams the very best of luck in the National Final.”

The ESFA will be keeping a close eye on social media posts tomorrow hoping to see plenty of matches taking place. If you do have some Schools’ Football Week content to share, please make sure you tag @SchoolsFootball and use the hashtags #schoolsfootballweek and #SFWGameOn

Good luck!