Our Premier League Primary Stars programme is designed to use the appeal of the Premier League and Liverpool Football Club to inspire a passion for learning, encourage physical activity, and support the development of important life skills among children in schools. Available to every primary school in the Liverpool City region, we deliver high-quality PE sessions, teacher-centered professional development, and educational interventions alongside a robust calendar of extra curriculum support such as social action projects, female empowerment and allyship programmes, STEM, and special LFC themed activations.

Phillip Lambe is the Deputy Head and Year 6 teacher at St Andrew’s C of E Primary, in the Wirral region. Mr Lambe started his Premier League Primary Stars journey with the LFC Foundation during the first term of the 2023-24 academic year, attending Teacher CPD sessions led by LFC Foundation Premier League Primary Stars Coordinator, Rachel Unsworth. The weekly sessions focused on enhancing the skills and confidence of teachers in delivering PE lessons effectively.

“I felt confident in teaching certain aspects of PE from the National Curriculum,

but these were mostly in games activities such as football, tag rugby and hockey.

I had previously only received a small amount of CPD for the teaching of

gymnastics and health related activities.”

Phillip Lambe, Deputy Head

St Andrew's welcomed the Primary Stars programme based on recommendations from other schools in Wirral. The aim was to develop the teachers' confidence in delivering the newly designed PE curriculum through the support of the Primary Stars team.

Mr. Lambe joined the Teacher CPD sessions for a period of 12 weeks, starting from September 2023 and ending in December. These sessions were centered around the subjects of movement and fitness, covering aspects such as strength, stamina, flexibility, speed, and agility. During the initial stages of the programme, Rachel Unsworth supported, observed, and assessed Mr. Lambe’s PE delivery and was able to pinpoint key areas of improvement including maximising active learning time and implementing differentiation techniques.

The Teacher CPD model allowed Rachel the opportunity to introduce a variety of coaching behaviours and strategies that Phillip could implement throughout his PE delivery to improve the engagement of pupils and target different learning styles and abilities. Together, Rachel and Mr. Lambe set targets that enhanced the children's active learning time by timing himself when giving instructions and demonstrations. Resources were shared with Phillip to improve his ability to differentiate before and during PE lessons - the STEP principle was used on many occasions.

“I feel much more confident when delivering PE sessions following my work with the LFC Foundation. Rachel has given me so many strategies to use to engage all the pupils and make each session fun and active from the very first minute to the last. The skills that I have learnt are transferable and I can apply them whilst teaching any area of PE.”

Phillip Lambe, Deputy Head

Throughout the term, Rachel observed considerable progress in Mr. Lambe’s competency, confidence, and quality in his delivery. Compared to the initial assessment, the children had gained several more minutes of “play” through better clarity, timing of instructions, and demonstrations. Mr. Lambe had also shown his ability to differentiate sessions to cater for the individual needs of the children in his class.

“The impact of the CPD has been that I am more confident and knowledgeable when teaching PE and I have numerous strategies to engage pupils who need support and those who need stretching. I have learnt how to engage all pupils by making each session fun whilst ensuring that the curriculum objectives are always being met.”

Phillip Lambe, Deputy Head

Last season our Education & Life Skills department worked with 18,472 participants, delivering over 2,721 sessions. We surveyed over 600 schoolchildren who took part in our Premier League Primary Stars programme to understand their enjoyment and the impact of the programme.

Over 90% of our responses highlighted a positive change in attitude, behaviour, skills and physical and mental health.