44 brfc official matchday magazine

COMMUNITY TRUST

THE TRUSTwww.brfctrust.co.uk

A TOUCH OF CLASS!During the Kick It Out ‘week

of action’ back in October, Blackburn Rovers Community Trust welcomed a large group of delegates from schools in North Wales, South Africa and Malawi to mark the start of a three-year partnership under the British Council’s ‘Connecting Classrooms’ project.

Connecting Classrooms is an educational project which is designed to develop greater awareness and understanding of world cultures, celebrate diversity and share best practice in teaching and learning. It aims to bring an international dimension to young people’s learning, improve their knowledge of other cultures and prepare them for life and work as global citizens. The Community Trust is delighted to be supporting this exciting initiative.

To strengthen the partnership, project co-ordinator Rebecca Gavin brought students from her high school, Ysgol John Bright, in North Wales, together with a selection of students from their local feeder primaries, Ysgol Craig y Don and Ysgol San Sior, to engage in a day of Design and Make Enterprise at the Trust’s Education Department.

During the day, staff and students were able to enjoy an ‘access all areas’ tour of Ewood Park, in order to capture digital images of the

stadium. Each student then used one of the Education Department’s many ICT suites to design and make their very own souvenir T-shirts, as well as one specially designed for children in the schools of Malawi and South Africa, who make up the Connecting Classrooms partnership.

“The students enjoyed another fantastic day with the Community Trust, designing the T-shirts and using state-of-the-art technology to create them,” said Rebecca. “They felt inspired by their surroundings at Ewood Park and were excited by the opportunity to share the outcomes of their experience with our partner schools in Malawi and South Africa.”

Duncan Kinloch, head of strategy and planning for the Trust, added:

“We were delighted once again to welcome Ysgol John Bright to the Trust.

“I sincerely hope that the young recipients in Malawi and South Africa will benefi t from the outcomes of this activity just as much as our visitors from North Wales, who so expertly designed and made the T-shirts.”

brfc official matchday magazine 45

THE TRUSTCLUB INFO

A TOUCH OF CLASS!

Rovers’ first team may have lost at Everton last weekend ... but there were some notable winners from the club on the day.

Rovers’ young footballers, part of the Premier League Kickz project, beat their Everton counterparts 7-4 in a five-a-side friendly at Fazackerley High School.

Rovers’ Kickz co-ordinator Matthew Agnew said: “It was a really good performance and we are now looking forward to more friendlies ahead of the draw for the Kickz Cup in a few weeks time.”

Anyone (aged 11-18) interested in joining the squad should turn up at Bangor Street Community Centre, Bastwell, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm on Thursday/Friday nights or contact the Community Department on 01254 296256.

Also in winning action at Everton were the club’s badminton team, managed by Claire Newton, who beat their Merseyside opponents in the Premier League 4 Sport tournament, which was organised on the same day.

The football and badminton stars are pictured above with Claire and Matthew.

DOUBLE SUCCESS FOR STARLETS

The London 2012 Games might still be a year away,

but staff from Blackburn Rovers Community Trust have been building Olympic fever across the region.

The Trust’s sports coaches have been delivering a series of master class road shows to special education schools from Blackburn with Darwen, Pendle, Rossendale and Hyndburn, aimed at increasing participation in a variety of Olympic sports.

Each road show offered taster sessions in badminton, table-tennis, volleyball, handball and athletics, while workshop were also delivered, covering topics including healthy living, diet and nutrition and the benefits of physical activity.

Claire Newton, Rovers’ Premier League 4 Sport co-ordinator, said: “The sessions were a great success with both the pupils and teachers. The aim was to raise awareness of the Olympic sports and to create a fun festival Olympic spirit – thus signposting the participants to local sports clubs so that they could continue with the sport.”

All participating schools were then invited to attend a Mini Olympics event, held at Ewood Park. Over 100 young people were present on the days, where they were able to put into practice the skills and drills learnt on the road shows.

Claire added: “It was fantastic to see all the young people, whose confidence, self-esteem and physical ability had grown throughout the sessions, come together at the Mini Olympics event, which enabled all the special school pupils to compete against each and create a festival atmosphere.”

MINI OLYMPICS