World Book Day: 'Premier League Primary Stars inspires our children'

To mark World Book Day on 6 March, the Premier League is hosting, together with the National Literacy Trust, a special online event that aims to encourage a love of books and reading in children.

Part of the Premier League Primary Stars programme, the Great Big Footy & Booky Quiz 2025 is a free, live event that will be hosted by teacher and author Kit Brown and Football School authors Ben Lyttleton and Alex Bellos.

The quiz is a chance for pupils across England and Wales to participate in fun and inspiring activities and is the latest Premier League Primary Stars online event for schools.

In December, a Premier League Primary Stars Virtual Club Author Day gave children the chance to explore how they can have a career in football. One of the schools taking part was Crabtree Farm Primary School in Nottingham, who have been working with Nottingham Forest Community Trust and Premier League Primary Stars for over five years.

And ahead of next week's quiz, we spoke with Katherine Marshall, middle school leader at Crabtree Farm, about the impact Premier League Primary Stars has had on her pupils.

"Through Premier League Primary Stars, Nottingham Forest come into our school to support children who maybe don't read at home or need that extra help. For the children, the coaches are someone to read to and someone to aspire to be. The children want to impress them because they are a bit younger and a bit cooler than some of us!

"On the back of that, we got invited to the Virtual Author Day in December. It was a great way to inspire our pupils.

"It's had a really big impact. More than we would realise. The children felt privileged to be part of it, meeting the authors and seeing other schools around the country. They were captivated from the beginning.

"It really opened their eyes. We are in an area where there is quite a bit of unemployment so we're trying to make them aware of what is out there.

"They can feel that there's a reason to do their learning, there's a reason to be at school.

"Events like this can spark other conversations. We discover the interests of the children. From that we can ask the Forest coach to tap into that in reading lessons or we can use that knowledge to engage them if they are having a bad day. It's really helpful.

"After the event the children were buzzing. They had been learning in a different way to sitting on a chair in the classroom. They had a bit of freedom to ask questions that are personal to them.

"I was proud of them because it showed that they are mature, they are thinking about the bigger picture and that they're hungry to learn.

"Afterwards they shared what they had learned with others in the class and it was fantastic to see them being able to stand up in front of other people and articulate what they had done. Some of these children do lack confidence but to be able to do that was brilliant for them.

"I would recommend that any school should sign up for any online Premier League Primary Stars event. It's really easy to do. It's a great way to inspire your children into not only reading but also to find out about their aspirations in life.

"We have developed a really good relationship with Nottingham Forest Community Trust. Coach Harry is a really good role model, he's plays football with them at lunchtime and after school, he runs a girls football club, he teaches PE and he also inspires them to read and helps them with reading comprehension.

"We have a couple of boys that find it really hard with coming into school. They will play football with Harry before they come in and it's a chance for them to offload. It settles them down before they come in. Having that role model for them means lots to us.

"Harry will sit in lessons with the children and he'll then take a group to do interventions for those who might just need that extra support. Harry also hears children struggling with reading. He sets little challenges for them.

"We love Premier League Primary Stars. It's a great programme to be a part of. We get other things offered to us as well as education. For example, we had a trip to the City Ground at Christmas where we had a tour of the ground and met the manager and some of the players.

"Having the same person from Forest coming in every week makes a big difference. It's a familiar face, it's a role model, it's somebody from Forest, they know that person is going to take an interest in them and will listen to them read next week.

"That's why they get so much respect from our children. That coach also gets to know the teachers and the whole team, they are part of our school.

"Premier League Primary Stars massively helps raise our children's aspirations. It helps them have good role models in their life. It's great that we're inspiring these children to read who are reluctant readers and brilliant that these children have somebody that they can have a kick around with and have a bit of a talk with."

To sign up for the World Book Day Quiz, visit the National Literacy Trust website.