1,280 pupils through the Castlebridge schools programme this year

The Castlebridge City Foundation’s schools programme reached 1,280 pupils in 31 primary schools last year, every one of them within five miles of Castle Meadow.

Each school gets a six-week block: one PE lesson a week led by a Foundation coach, one lunchtime club and a free matchday ticket for every child and one adult. The sessions mix football with reading and healthy-eating work built with the teachers.

“The football gets them in the door,” Foundation manager Priya Hollins said. “The bit teachers ask us back for is the reading club. We had 40 kids reading match reports out loud to each other in one school.”

This year the programme adds six more schools and a girls-only after-school club run with the Women’s side.