Brentford FC’s Head Coach Thomas Frank crowns school pupil winner of Trust’s journalism project
Brentford FC’s Head Coach Thomas Frank crowned Tom Mullins of St James Catholic Primary School winner of our journalism competition last week. The year 6 pupil took part in the Trust’s journalism project, which sees local primary school pupils transform themselves into journalists and write a match report from a Brentford game.
Run in partnership with the Fearless Foundation, the project was set up in memory of the Daily Star’s chief football reporter Danny Fullbrook who died of cancer aged just 40 in 2012.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the pupils took part in the project online to unlock their creative potential. Thomas Frank joined Sports Editor of Daily Star Howard Wheatcroft, members of Danny Fullbrook’s family and founder of the Fearless Foundation Mark Dickinson in judging the match report entries.
Taking part in the judging process, Thomas Frank said:
“It was a pleasure to be asked to judge this competition and I was delighted to take part. I have been very proud of the way our players have helped our Community Sports Trust over the past few months. They do lots of great work and it was great to be able to help, read the work of those that took part in the Trust’s journalism project and help select the eventual winner.
“I know home-schooling can be incredibly challenging and the work the Trust does with projects like these help engage with children who would perhaps not normally be interested in English or literacy. Football can help in the community and help individuals and that is great to see. And there can be no better way to improve your writing skills by covering Brentford’s fantastic victory over Swansea last year!”
Along with Tom Mullins, the judges also awarded pupils 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place:
2. Daniel Brooks
3. Leo Arya
4. Katie Toppin
5. Natlia Kukla
Pupils were drawn from fifteen local primary schools along with individual entries online from young Bees fans.
Chris Barrett, Education Manager of Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, believes this project serves an important educational tool for primary school pupils, he said:
“Our work with the Fearless Foundation gives us the opportunity to work with young writers of all abilities and offer them a glimpse of the skills required to become a top sports journalist. Hopefully this will help inspire some of them to join the writing profession in the future.”
For more information about our education projects, please email us enquiries@brentfordfccst.com
