Project details
EFL Trust Programmes
The EFL Trust is the charitable arm of the English Football League (EFL) and was established in 2008 to oversee the remarkable and diverse work of EFL’s Club Community Organisations (CCOs). By joining EFDN, the EFL Trust hopes to learn from the best practices in Europe and share information on their Award winning Governance Framework CCOP and their Community Impact Report as well as their Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Find here some of their successful programmes.
The Joy of Moving Programme
Ferrero UK’s corporate social responsibility project, the Joy of Moving programme, which has been developed and delivered through a partnership with EFL Trust for over seven years, is based on methodology which is designed to inspire children to move through play and captures the fun approach, which we know is key. The methodology was established by independent experts, including Foro Italico (Rome University) and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and focuses on developing key skills in four major areas:
- Physical fitness
- Motor coordination
- Cognitive functions & creativity
- Life skills
The Joy of Moving programme is delivered within schools and consists of two elements; the Move & Learn project and Joy of Moving Festivals.
The programme has moved over 400,000 children providing them with over 2,000,000 additional hours of learning and activity.
Move & Learn
Move & Learn is targeted at children aged 9 and 10 – a key milestone in a child’s development – and is designed to appeal to every child through a fun and engaging approach. Consisting of 9 hours of education over six weeks, plus a series of home-based family challenges, children learn about the importance of physical activity and how to eat a balanced diet and lead an active lifestyle. We also work hard to support and encourage schools to adopt the ideas and approach in the longer term.
We are seeing the results from taking this approach. Children respond with huge positivity, telling us that they have a better understanding of why it’s important to be active and to eat a balanced and varied diet. They are also more motivated to stay active. In fact, our latest evaluation of the programme has shown that 94% of children felt that the six weeks had given them new ideas to get active.
Alongside Move & Learn, we run the Joy of Moving Festivals that involve the full school during the summer term. These half or full-day events are a celebration of being active. Children take part in a range of fun challenges and games during the day.
Having to adapt to the pandemic, an online resource, the Joy of Moving Resource Hub, was made available to parents to keep their children active. The resource hub features several fun activities that can be played in the house or in the garden.
The Utilita Kids Cup
This is a national tournament for junior footballers which offers children the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at Wembley Stadium.
The Cup involves over 16,000 children and creates one of the country’s largest national football competitions, which culminates in exciting finals at Wembley Stadium in front of thousands of fans before a major national final, as schoolchildren live out their dream.
The competition which inspires children to be active, healthy, and develop a strong sense of teamwork, discovered Watford footballer Will Hughes and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, while David Beckham’s former school Chase Lane Primary walked away as 2013/14 Kids Cup League 1 winners, representing Leyton Orient.
The Utilita Kids Cup comprises of a six-a-side competition for U11 schoolchildren and culminates in three finals across the Sky Bet EFL Play-Off weekend in May. The road to the finals starts when the new school term starts. Each EFL club organises a Utilita Kids Cup local competition for all local schools wishing to take part.
The Clubs are first split into 3 divisions, in line with the club’s divisional status, before being again split into two groups, north and south. The winners of the divisional northern and southern finals will then qualify for the chance to play before the Sky Bet EFL Play-Off Final of the relevant division.
Many clubs play the final of their local competition at their home stadium before a first team game. The winners of that competition then go on to represent the club in the Area, Regional and National phases of the competition, where they will face schools representing other League clubs.
