School's premier challenge

The pupils competed against schools from Derby County, Norwich, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa, who all pitched ideas on how to make their home stadiums more inclusive.

The five Westborough students – Ahmed Etorki, Nayab Mirza, Usman Qaisar, Hafsa Ahmad, Natasha West – progressed to this stage after impressing Huddersfield Town’s chairman Dean Hoyle with their ideas of a Community Fan Hub and Inclusivity App to help promote inclusion within the John Smith’s Stadium.

The pupils attended the play-off with support from the Town Foundation team and Trustees Janet Hoyle, Caroline Lee and Stuart Bragan.

Each group, made up of Year 8, 9 and 10 students, had to pitch their ideas and presentations to a panel of judges.

Unfortunately, Freebrough Academy, representing Middlesbrough Football Club, were selected as the winners.

The foundation’s head of education Katie Suttron said: “The pupils from Westborough High School were outstanding throughout the day and all five have been on an incredible journey over the past few months.

“On the first day they were very shy and reserved.

“They hadn’t worked with each other before and hadn’t worked with their teacher Mr Patel before.

“On Tuesday they were confident, knowledgeable and above all they had developed a friendship. I am very proud to have worked with such a wonderful group of students.”