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What was planned?

The Lancashire County Cricket Club's (LCCC) Cricket in Education Centre is based in the Indoor Cricket Centre at Old Trafford home of Lancashire and England Cricket teams.  The scheme was developed as a partnership between the club and Trafford School Improvement Service with the aid of New Opportunity Funding.  The main aim of the project was to enhance the self-esteem, confidence and motivation of young people through team building activities.  All the activities are linked to the game of cricket.  Year 5 pupils attend from the primary schools and Year 7/8 attend from the secondary school.

What was done and when?

12 pupils from each school attend the Education Centre at Old Trafford for a study support session, once a week.  Each session lasts one and half hours, giving a total contact time of 21 hours over 14 weeks. 

The Education Centre Manager worked closely with the link teacher in each school in order to identify pupils that it was felt would most benefit most from the programme. 

Activities include a ground tour, problem solving activities allied to cricket, thinking skills, computer aided design, video diaries, Powerpoint presentations and player/staff interviews.  Quality resources support these activities.  Enjoyment and learning is at the heart of each activity which has a cricket focus, but the skills and knowledge are transferable back into the school environment.  The wireless operated laptops which can be used anywhere in the ground are particularly popular.  Each group is supported and encouraged by the Education Centre Manager and a volunteer mentor attached to the cricket club. 

A reward system also helps to promote and enhance self-esteem, confidence and motivation. 

What has the impact been?

Successes of the project include:

• The strength and diversity of the partnerships established.  One aim of the Centre is to foster links and forge partnerships in order to further develop the programme and range of opportunities provided for young people.  As well as the partnership of LCCC, Trafford School Improvement Service and local schools, other partners include:
  • Community Exchange-who provide mentors through Manchester Universities.
  • Lancashire Cricket Board (LCB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)-who have contributed to a number of successful initiatives as part of the Cricket in Education scheme.  These have included contributions by Trafford pupils to ECB national publications, e-links to schools and other study centres as well as the England Women’s team on tour in Australia.  In addition, one of the Centre’s partner schools has become the first in the country to enjoy and experience the ECB’s innovative new playground markings. 
• Data from the project indicates that the project is meeting its aims of raising the self-esteem, confidence and motivation of the pupils who attend the Centre.  All the groups who attended the Centre showed at least an average increase of 18% in these areas in the 4 months that they attended the Centre.  This was evidenced through questionnaires, which indicated greater enjoyment in attending lessons in school, joining in with lessons more and feeling more confident saying things in class.
• Involvement of young people in planning and delivery of the programme.  They plan assemblies and presentations both at the Cricket in Education Centre and back in school.  They act as mentors in imparting what has been learned.
• Attendance rates at the Centre have never fallen below 95% in the 3 years of the programme, with over 350 pupils attending the programme from 5 schools.