Watch: Primary Stars helps Ava find her voice

Ava is a Year 6 student at St Aidan’s Catholic Primary School in Croydon. She has been part of a 6-week Primary Stars programme funded by the Premier League. During the programme, Palace for Life coach Kiera covered topics such as diversity, stereotypes, critical thinking in the media, discrimination, racism, and the Black Lives Matter Movement with the class.

At the start of these sessions, Ava didn’t feel as confident as she does now. From the first workshop, Palace for Life coach Kiera noticed that Ava was happy to put her hand up, but was not very confident in the delivery of her answer. However, as the sessions progressed, there was a massive improvement in Ava’s ability to give her opinions and answers with confidence.

The workshops were designed to inform and educate the children on what would be considered quite ‘tough’ topics whilst giving them a voice to share their opinions and ask questions in a safe space.

Ava enjoyed these sessions as they allowed her and her class to learn about a range of topics. ‘’I liked hearing and learning about other people’s opinions on a variety of different topics. Coach Kiera taught us the different issues around the world that people experience and why equality is really important in life.’’

Ava realised that as a result of the workshop, her confidence grew. ‘’I feel that because of the workshop, I have been able to speak up in class more and tell people more of my ideas on all my subjects’’.

Ava’s coach Kiera added: ‘’Ava has grown massively in confidence over the last 6 weeks. What really benefits the individuals in the programme is that they’re able to voice their opinions and over the last six weeks, that’s really developed. She now has demonstrated the ability to give her opinions in confidence and speak not just on her own opinion, but also on behalf of the whole class.’’

During the 6 weeks, Ava’s teacher Mrs Paul highlighted that the sessions have not only been beneficial for Ava, but for the whole class, and spoke about why it’s crucial programmes like these are delivered in schools.  

‘’The Palace for Life sessions have been extremely beneficial to all my class. The topics that coach Kiera covered are sometimes really difficult topics for us to cover with them and having someone from the outside come in and talk to them is very good. The kids also love Kiera as she is really approachable and works well with them.’’     

For more information on our work in Primary schools, head here.