BFC Community Trust: Top marks for Montgomery in PL Inspires Challenge

Building on the successes of 2022, BFCCT welcomed year nine pupils from our five partner high schools to take part in the local heat of the PL Inspires Challenge.

Pupils from our partner Academy schools – Armfield, Montgomery, Unity, Aspire and Highfield – took on the PL Inspires Challenge in the club’s Matthews Suite on Monday of this week.

This year’s challenge had its focus on the very pressing issue of climate change and protecting our planet.

Having worked enthusiastically and energetically in their sessions at school, ably supported by BFCCT staff members, pupils presented their social action ideas to scholars from our college and Blackpool Academy players who took time to learn, engage and give feedback on their project ideas.

Pupils presented a wide range of ideas in order to reduce carbon footprint and deliver an eco-friendly, sustainable idea for their school, club and broader community to engage with.

Those ideas had ranged from planting locally sourced ingredients for meals to be made for the homeless, to creating a flower garden to encourage pollination and protect our eco system.

Guests were given the opportunity to vote on each idea, scoring each project across three key areas: presentation and communication, overall project design and knowledge and understanding.

As pupils arrived to deliver their ideas, it was evident that some were worried, nervous, and anxious about being taken out of their classroom comfort zones.

However, after their first initial engagement, pupils grew in confidence and spoke with passion, honesty and intellect about their social action projects.

The most important thing is that pupils enjoy events such as these and this was confirmed with 100 per cent of them saying they enjoyed the experience on their feedback forms.

Once the votes had been counted, it was time to announce the winners.

It was a group of pupils from Montgomery Academy who eventually finished top of the class.

Their idea focused on a plastic cup recycling project here at the football ground, which encourages fans to return plastic cups once they have been used.

Fans can earn points for each cup returned and, once a certain target is reached, a discount in the ground or club shop was granted.

The idea didn’t stop there. Once collected, plastic cups would be turned into merchandised bracelets to be sold to fans with all proceeds given to local charities.

The winners will now go on to action their idea with a trip to a local Premier League stadium.

It will see them further upskill themselves in social action and see how to bring their idea to life.

They will go on to document their experience and project at a final celebration event in July.