The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the English Premier League are partnering to encourage primary school children across England and Wales to celebrate diversity.
The two organisations have launched ‘Roar! for Diversity’ – a curriculum-linked PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) resource and competition for seven to 11-year-olds.
Available to download for free from the Premier League Primary Stars website and ECB’s partner, Chance to Shine, the Key Stage 2 resource will enable teachers to discuss with their class how diversity within a team helps to make it stronger.
Pupils can then create an advert celebrating diversity which can be entered into a competition and can win match tickets or a school visit from the Premier League or Men's Cricket World Cup trophies.
The Roar! For Diversity pack includes lesson plans and video resources featuring contributions from England cricketers Adil Rashid, Sophia Dunkley and Premier League match official Sian Massey-Ellis.
"Cricket can be a real agent of social change and we are delighted to partner with the Premier League to help tackle the important subject of inclusion and diversity," said ECB chief operating officer David Mahoney.
“The Premier League and Chance to Shine have had some incredible success in engaging primary schools and we are teaming up to support teachers and children to have these vital conversations and help foster an inclusive culture in their classrooms and communities.
“Increasing our investment and commitment to schools is a key part of our five-year strategy to grow the game and inspire a generation to say that cricket is a game for me.
“The Roar! For Diversity resource is available to every teacher across the country who would like to get involved via our schools partner, Chance to Shine, or Premier League Primary Stars.”
Bill Bush, executive director of the Premier League, added: “The Roar! for Diversity resource will enable primary school children to openly discuss and celebrate the qualities that make them different to their classmates; using the appeal of both football and cricket to encourage these conversations both in the classroom and away from it.
“This launch follows on from our successful primary school poetry competition on diversity last year and supports the wider work that the Premier League and our clubs are carrying out around anti-discrimination.
“We hope that the 16,000+ schools engaged with our free Premier League Primary Stars education programme will find these downloadable curriculum-linked resources helpful in prompting meaningful discussion.”
