Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation and American Express hold cross-curriculum Albion Cup event at the American Express Stadium

Taking place for the third year, the initiative was delivered by Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation (BHAFC Foundation), official charity of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, in partnership with American Express. Schools from Brighton, Lewes, Nutley (Uckfield), Newhaven, Seaford and Eastbourne, Shoreham and Littlehampton were included.

The event forms part of the company’s colleague volunteer programme that combines the power of football with the passion of American Express colleagues to support local communities across Sussex.

Beverly Sawyers, Senior Vice President at American Express, said: “We’ve seen football is an extremely powerful tool to engage young people, not only in key curriculum areas, but to learn valuable employability skills. Sessions like today are part of our wider commitment to support younger generations within our local communities to feel more positively about their future prospects.”

Led by BHAFC Foundation qualified teaching staff, the school teams completed a series of timed football themed challenges aligned to curriculum areas of numeracy, literacy, and STEM. Twenty American Express volunteers worked with teams across the challenges, supporting pupils with key skills such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, confidence and resilience, as well as judging activities and recording team scores for the timed tasks.

Pupils completed tasks with data, language, and STEM including how to code robots and completed an obstacle course across the football pitch.

Rob Josephs, Employability & Education Manager at BHAFC Foundation, said: “Challenges are designed to engage students in core curriculum areas and introduce them to key life skills in an exciting way. The tasks are against the clock and fast paced. Having a fun competitive element across schools motivates students to contribute, however all students are recognised for their enthusiasm and input.”

Summerlea Community Primary School in Rustington topped the table and were presented with the Cross-Curriculum Albion Cup trophy. Last year’s winner Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne were runners up, and Swiss Gardens Primary School in Shoreham-by-Sea came in third place. Medals were awarded to all school teams. In its first year (2022) Goring Primary, Worthing scored the highest number of points, taking away the winner’s trophy.

Participating schools were: From Brighton, City Academy Whitehawk, Middle Street Primary School, and Stanford Junior School. South Malling CofE Primary School, Lewes, Nutley Church of England Primary School, Uckfield, Breakwater Academy, Newhaven, Cradle Hill Community Primary School, Seaford, Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne, Parkland Junior School, Eastbourne, Swiss Gardens Primary School, Shoreham-by-Sea, Summerlea Community Primary School, Littlehampton.