Five years on, as football clubs across the country mark the fifth anniversary of the Primary Stars programme which aims to inspire children on and off the sports field, Luke is now a Year Three teacher and PE co-ordinator at Bantock Primary School in Pennfields.
He is very much the point of contact for Wolves Foundation staff in working with the school to deliver Primary Stars, and his approach and values have now seen him named as the Wolves’ Primary Stars Superstar.
Currently 105 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local schools, and all have been asked to nominate a superstar to mark the fifth anniversary of the scheme.
Josh Uppal, schools educator with the Foundation, explains more.
“Luke is a teacher who really lives up to the values of Premier League Primary Stars,” says Josh.
“When Primary Stars first started, he was a Teaching Assistant and has progressed through to becoming both a teacher and PE co-ordinator.
“He is our ‘go to’ guy for the activities we lead in the school with Primary Stars, always really welcoming and great to work with both for the children, staff and the Foundation.
“Luke has also done some filming for us with the Premier League which was quite intense but he was brilliant at it and as helpful as he always is.
“We were delighted to present him with his ‘Superstar’ status as part of Primary Stars five-year anniversary, an accolade which he thoroughly deserves.”
The presentation which took place at an assembly at Bantock saw Luke receive a Nike Strike football – thanks to Premier League partner Nike – and a framed, limited-edition anniversary illustration, created by graphic designer and digital illustrator Zem Clarke.
Luke, who was also gifted his own personalized ‘CRAZE 1’ Wolves shirt from the Foundation, was both delighted and surprised to receive the award.
He said: “It was a huge shock but a nice surprise! To see all the pupils here when my name was called out was the best thing really.
“Hopefully they understand how hard we work here at Bantock to promote sport and physical activity through Premier League Primary Stars, and how important it is for their wellbeing.
“Over the five years that I’ve been here, with the help of Primary Stars and Wolves Foundation, the quality of our physical education has just grown so much.
“When I first started we had support from Wolves Foundation one afternoon a week, and from that we then moved to two days with lunch-time and after-school clubs.
“Now we’re seeing the children involved in things like netball and dodgeball and all the sports that we weren’t familiar with before.
“The pupils now have a massive motivation to take part in them. The connection between the school, Foundation and Premier League has been huge over the whole time I’ve been here.”
Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to support pupils in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.
The project provides teachers and parents with free downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 (age 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (age 7-11), developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with experts such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association.
“Primary Stars is the really strong link between the Foundation and a lot of our partner schools,” adds Josh.
“Foundation staff work to help teachers upskill through CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and the overall values of the project are fantastic for keeping children focused and helping them strive towards goals outside of just being athletic.
“The Primary Stars values of being fair, ambitious, connected and inspiring are all qualities which whether used in PE or just in general are really important for people to aspire to.”
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters added: “We launched Premier League Primary Stars five years ago to support teachers and use the power and popularity of football to inspire children in the classroom and on the sports field.
“Clubs do fantastic work to support children’s learning and we are very proud that this national education programme now engages more than 18,500 primary schools in England and Wales.
“Congratulations to all those who have been recognized as a Premier League Primary Stars Superstar, as part of the five-year anniversary celebrations, and thank you to all those involved in the programme over the years.”
Please visit www.premierleague.com for more information.
