As the summer holidays get into full swing, we are looking back at another huge year of working with Premier League Primary Stars to inspire pupils to love reading and improve their literacy skills by harnessing their passion for sports.
Club Author Days are author events run by Premier League Primary Stars and hosted by football Club Community Organisations around the country. Pupils are invited to their local stadium to meet an author, take part in a reading or writing workshop, get a stadium tour and even take home a book of their own.
In 2023, our research found that children and young people who had experienced an author visit were more likely to enjoy reading in their free time than those who hadn't (58.6% vs. 39.3%).
This shows how reading role models can play a vital part in inspiring pupils to read for pleasure and to see literacy skills as important. This year, Premier League Primary Stars and CCOs around the country held 14 in-person Club Author Days to introduce local pupils to both footballer and author role models.
Over 1200 pupils were engaged through this year's author visits, and 13 different authors took part, leading inspiring, fun workshops and spending time with the pupils.
Kicking off the 2024 Club Author Days, Ruth Hearson met 100 pupils at Stoke City FC and delivered a creative workshop, with pupils taking home free books at the end of the day.
In London, Emma Juhasz visited Queens Park Rangers FC where over 30 young girls were given a presentation by Juhasz on her new book, ‘What Football Job Can You Do?’
Author Kathy Tellentire was joined by 30 pupils at Port Vale FC to read her book, as well as PVFC's Tom Sang and PVFC Women's Jess Smith who took part in a Q&A with pupils.
At Fulham FC, Emma Juhasz once again led a session to five Primary Schools at Motspur Park to celebrate World Book Day!
The same week, Paul Cookson was joined by Deji M Oshilaja to lead a workshop with 100 pupils at Burton Albion FC.
Stevenage FC got involved for the first time with the programme and held their first Club Author Day with active literacy sessions and a workshop with Michaela Morgan.
Ipswich Town welcomed author Ben Lyttleton and 70 pupils for a workshop, stadium tour and even a book signing.
Also in March, author Tamsin Cooke was joined by John Marquis & Grant Ward at Bristol Rovers for a visit with 90 pupils including a tour of The Memorial Stadium and an energetic workshop.
At AFC Bournemouth over 60 pupils visited the stadium alongside author Seth Burkett.
Author Peter Kalu visited Sheffield Wednesday FC to deliver an engaging workshop with a big group of local pupils.
The biggest Club Author Day of the year took place at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC, where 216 pupils visited the stadium and met Mighty Red, the mascot, and author Venessa Taylor. Venessa's writing workshop challenged pupils to write their own story featuring Mighty Red.
In the summer term, author Jamie Russell led a workshop and book giveaway at Aston Villa and author Jess French held a talk about reading for pleasure to 100 pupils at Norwich City FC.
At Lincoln City FC, Tom Palmer led a workshop to pupils from five schools and was assisted by Rob McCann from VIP Reading, who supplied the books for the event.
Taking home a book of their own is one of the highlights of Club Author Days for pupils, and in a year when book ownership among children is being impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, gifting free books can have a life changing impact. Across the Club Author Days, World Book Day and other Premier League Primary Stars activities, over 500,000 books have been given out to children since 2017.
Premier League Primary Stars is the Premier League's primary school education programme. It uses the appeal of football to inspire children aged five to 11 to be active and develop essential skills. Club Author Days and literacy resources are developed and delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust
The programme is available to every primary school in England and Wales, aiming to inspire girls and boys aged 5-11 in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.
We will see you again in the next school year!