The Leeds United Foundation have been working closely with Leeds City Academy recently to deliver a bespoke educational package entitled Learning to Live.

After speaking with Daniel Khan the Attendance Leader at the school, the club’s official charity put forward a programme to work with youngsters wrestling with poor attendance records and inconsistent behaviour patterns. The programme was focused all around positive mental health and incorporating key values in line with the club, such as; Ambition, Inspiration, Resilience and Fairness.

A selected group of 14 students took part in the six-week course that was delivered at Leeds City Academy by qualified coaches from the Leeds United Foundation with the young people excelling in both their attendance levels and with their behaviour reports.

The weekly workshops with the youngsters were a mixture between classroom-based work and practical PE lessons, as the coaches delivered discussions and brainstorm sessions around key words and then applied them to real life situations. The aim was to embrace the topic at hand and seek to deliver that message on the pitch before then translating it back to other real life situations.

If there are any schools interested in running a similar course for their students with the Leeds United Foundation, please contact Nigel.Thewlis@leedsunited.com.