LCFC Stages SEN Schools League 'Play On The Pitch' Event

- Local children with special educational needs visit King Power Stadium to play on the pitch
- Pupils from nine Leicestershire schools took part in the event on Filbert Way
- The LCFC Community Trust has an extensive curriculum and football-based provision
- The children were able to play on the pitch of their Leicester City heroes for a full day

Nine schools were represented on Filbert Way to savour the experience of following in the footsteps of their Foxes heroes on the famous King Power Stadium turf.

After winning a series of heats over the course of the past season to earn the opportunity to play on the pitch, the nine schools arrived at the Club's home ground on Wednesday. 

Staged alongside the overall Schools League finals, the event was just the latest initiative ran by the LCFC Community Trust to engage with local children with special educational needs.

In front of a crowd of family and friends in the West Stand, the Club's visitors were able to enjoy the occasion with their classmates in a relaxed environment with no competitive element.

In between the matches, Liz Jenkin, a teacher at Netherall Special School told LCFC TV: "It’s really inspired the children coming out here, they’ve been practicing all year!

"They’ve been going to matches knowing that they could come to Leicester City at the end of the year and that was driving them forward.

"They definitely upped their game and they’ve been looking forward to it for weeks. It’s helped with their behaviour at school as well, they’ve been so keen to come.

"They’ve been working harder at school because they knew they’d got this treat to come to. To actually step on the pitch, where their favourite players have played, it’s just been incredible for them."

Phil Hull, Disability Officer at the LCFC Community Trust, meanwhile, was thrilled to see the excitement on the faces of everybody who visited Leicester City on Wednesday afternoon.

"So today we’re here at King Power Stadium, doing our annual play on the pitch event," Hull explained.

"Throughout the year we’ve done a SEN (Special Educational Needs) schools league and adapted the mainstream version for SEN Schools because the provision of football wasn’t out there.

"As a result, we’ve come together to put on events every half-term and it all leads to the teams that have been involved, coming down to play on the pitch.

"The impact is massive, we go to a variety of schools, sometimes it’s just for after-school club or it can be the whole day and we do curriculum lessons as well as the after-school and lunch-time provision.

"The impact of them seeing us come in with the badge, representing the Club, they really love it."