Schools ready to celebrate football as World Cup begins

Students and teachers alike have been getting ready to watch all of the action from Qatar, with some of the best players in the world set to be on show and 28 days of action set to be played out on TV screens.

With the tournament taking place in Qatar, it means a three hour time difference between the UK and the Middle-Eastern country and, as a result, some games will be taking place during school hours.

This includes the opening game of Group B between England and Iran, which is set to kick off on Monday at 1pm, a time right in the middle of school days.

However, this has not stopped schools from making an effort to bring their students together to watch the game and cheer on the national side as it begins its World Cup journey.

In Wolverhampton, Warstones Primary School will be showing the game in its hall after lunch has finished.

Headteacher Fiona Feeley said that while the school was conscious of the controversy around the organisation, it was a great opportunity to bring the children together and encourage them to cheer their heroes, as well as teach them about the social and political side.

She said: "We are conscious that there is a lot of controversy regarding the organisation behind the World Cup.

"However, for our aged children, the joy and excitement of their national team being involved is a wonderful occasion that many will not have experienced before, so we are offering it but only with parental permission."

"We are showing the game in the hall after lunch, hence we will only be watching from when we get the lunches finished.

"It is a national sporting event, regardless of the controversy, and this is a chance for us to share a collective pride in our country and provide the children with positive sporting role models, an appreciation of sport in their own lives and dreams to aspire to.

"We can also discuss some of the issues surrounding the social and political implications of this World Cup with our older children."

In Rugeley, Chancel Primary School will be screening the games in the classrooms, with the rooms open from 1pm for students from years 2 to 6 to watch the game.

PE coordinator Daniel Lees said it was a great opportunity to bring the kids together to enjoy a common thing.

He said: "It's just such a great opportunity for the children to focus on the same thing and after we had such a successful Euros, I think there will be the same level of confidence and passion going forward with this tournament.

"We're having a range of activities, such as themed lunches and external groups coming to teach dances, and it's going to be great to bring the children together to support England and enjoy the tournament."

With the match taking place during lunch time, schools such as Beacon Hill Academy in Sedgley have been making changes to the day to ensure that students can watch the game with no interruption to their curriculum.

Principal Sukhjot Dhami said: "This is the only game going on during school time and we've found that attendances do drop as students want to see the game, so we decided to make sure we have students in school and they can learn for the majority of the day.

"It means we can accommodate students learning and wanting to watch the game and we wouldn't consider doing a half-day as that could have an adverse effect going forwards."

Schools of all types have been preparing for the game as well, with independent school Hydesville Tower School in Walsall allowing students to watch the first half as part of their lunch break.

Headteacher Raj Samra said: "We will be allowing our senior school pupils to watch the first half on Monday as it will be their lunch time as we don't want it to impact on their school day and miss any lessons.

"We do, however, see it as really important to come together and cheer on the national team and and we're happy to celebrate that."