Football session at Mount Carmel
CHILD OBESITY
Long term goals
Being physically active is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle and forming the habit
in schoolchildren can set the tone for a lifetime. Brentford FC Community Sports
Trust is helping hundreds in the borough to do just that.
C
urrent players and coaches
are encouraging pupils to
get more active and involved
in a wide range of sports.
The Championship football
club’s award-winning charity
is commissioned by Ealing
Council to run a variety of
community schemes for
young people in the borough
and the two organisations are
also working in partnership on
the new sports hub being built
at Gunnersbury Park.
Similarly, the council
fully backs the trust’s
involvement
with 30 local
schools, which
is a project
being run with
the support of the
Premier League’s Primary
Stars initiative.
Not only do the club’s coaches carry
out sessions and run a wide variety of
sports clubs on a weekly basis at the
schools, they also develop PE plans
for them that are linked to the national
curriculum and help to train the teachers.
‘I KNOW HOW MUCH IT WOULD
HAVE MEANT TO ME’
Brentford players Chiedozie
Ogbene (pictured left) and
Josh Clarke, attended an
after-school club at Mount
Carmel Catholic Primary
School, in South Ealing.
Chiedozie said: “I was once a
kid like these pupils, and I know
how much it would have meant
to me if a football player came
into my school. I hope we can
motivate these children to achieve
their goals and inspire them to get
involved with football and sport
in general.”
‘WE COULDN’T SURVIVE WITHOUT
IT ANY MORE’
Clare Walsh, headteacher at Mount
Carmel, said the trust’s work there has
helped place sport and exercise at the
heart of the school’s values.
She said: “It is such an integral part
of the school and we couldn’t survive
without it any more. Our drive as a
school is for every child to be healthy.
“The children love it. There are
more than 300 pupils attending these
sessions and there are waiting lists for
some of the clubs.”
DON’T MISS
Watch a video of the
players in action and
read the full story, at
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/
features/school-sport
around ealing September 2018
15