Arsenal Double Club

The Arsenal Double Club is an innovative education and football programme which offers a range of subjects together with football coaching. In 2005, the Double Club was awarded the "Big Tick" from Business in the Community.

Arsenal Double Clubs run in schools as after school clubs and during lesson time. They are also being used in weekend clubs, holiday programmes, in prisons and as part of alternative education schemes.

The prestige of Arsenal Football Club and the popularity of playing football is the inspiration behind the Arsenal Double Club. The aim is to raise the confidence and ability levels in various school and educational subjects through teaching resources about Arsenal and football. These sessions are combined with a parallel programme of football coaching..

The Arsenal Double Club has modules in literacy, numeracy, science, German, ICT, geography and is currently developing nutrition, history, French, Spanish and business studies modules. Most of the modules are aimed at underachieving pupils at Key Stages 2 and 3 but are easily adaptable to suit other needs.

Resources

All Double Club resources are well produced and are developed in partnership with schools and education consultants. They link in with the National Curriculum and attempt to tackle school topics in a fun and football manner. The German module for example, was developed with the Goethe Institute and the Voyage, German-British Connection and uses an interview with Jens Lehmann and information on the World Cup recently held in Germany as the focus for the module.

Staff

Arsenal Double Clubs are sometimes delivered by full time Arsenal in the Community teachers and coaches. Increasingly, classroom sessions are being delivered by teachers and mentors in the schools.

Volunteers

Older pupils and local students assist in the running of Double Clubs. Sixth formers (and in some cases pupils in Year 10 and 11) go into local primary schools or help out in Year 7 Double Clubs in their own school. These volunteers make a significant contribution to the success of the programme.

The Arsenal Double Club Package

Aside from their lessons in school, all Double Clubs are encouraged to present their pupils with teeshirts and certificates at the end of the course. This often happens in a school assembly. All Double Clubs are also invited to spend a day towards the end of their course at Emirates Stadium. Some get involved in Double Club tournaments.

DfES Secondary School Project

Since January 2004, Arsenal in the Community has placed full time teachers in secondary schools in London in a joint venture with the DfES and local education authorities. Selected groups of pupils receive a concentrated Double Club Key Stage 3 curriculum and the results of this intensive football based programme have been very positive. As a result, in 2006/2007, the DfES has asked the Arsenal Double Club to work with other clubs to establish Double Clubs in their local schools. Clubs involved, through their Playing For Success Study Support Centres, are Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Northampton Town, Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion.

Other Developments

On the back of the success of the DfES Pilot in secondary schools in Islington and Tower Hamlets, a full time Arsenal science teacher has been working in Tower Hamlets schools since September 2005. This joint project with Tower Hamlets education authority has now spread to include science teaching and football coaching in primary schools in the borough. The Arsenal Double Club has also had twice weekly sessions in Pentonville Prison since May 2005. Those taking part have been writing match reports and reading and debating topical football issues in the classroom, before taking a basic course in football coaching.

For contact information on the Arsenal Double Club, please visit Arsenal.com. COMMUNITY CLOSE-UP

Arsenal Double Club goes Nationwide

Through their Playing for Success centres, Portsmouth, Northampton Town, Ipswich Town, West Bromwich Albion, Oldham Athletic, Leeds United and Middlesbrough are all running Double Clubs in one or more local secondary schools. These Double Clubs are based upon the Arsenal Double Clubs which for the last three years have been operating in some of our local schools in Islington and Tower Hamlets. Pupils are getting extra English and maths lessons, in curriculum time, where the lesson content is all about football together with a football coaching session.

Nearly all of the Arsenal Double Clubs visit the stadium as part of their course and this invitation was extended to the seven clubs we are now working with on their Double Clubs. Ipswich Town was the first club to visit when, on Wednesday, December 13, the Thomas Wolsey Special School came down to see the magnificent new Emirates Stadium, the wonderful new Arsenal Museum and to sample some Arsenal hospitality. The pupils, their school and Ipswich Town staff are pictured here in the Directors' Box. The group had a wonderful day and there will be many other similar visits in 2007.

For more information about the Arsenal Double Club, please contact Scott Cohen on 020 7704 4149.

Arsenal Football Club celebrated success at Emirates Stadium on Thursday 23rd November with pupils from Tower Hamlets who have undertaken a year's science teaching with Arsenal's award-winning education initiative, the 'Arsenal Double Club.'

The pupils, along with the Club, are celebrating the first year of Arsenal's science module which has been taught in eight secondary schools in the London borough over the last year. Arsenal's Johan Djourou and Arsenal Ladies star Faye White joined the celebrations which took place at Arsenal's new home.

The Science Arsenal Double Club has been produced and piloted in conjunction with Tower Hamlets Out of School Hours Learning (Study Support) Service (OoSHL) and targets Key Stage 3 students for one term of ten weeks through relating key science ideas to real life and in particular football. Through the employment of a qualified and inspirational science teacher, Wendy Day, the Arsenal Double Club is being delivered in weekly two-hour curriculum-time sessions using Arsenal Football Club resources and its coaches to deliver after-school soccer sessions with the pupils. It is thought to be one of the first football-focused science projects in the country.

Science Double Club teacher Wendy Day explains: "It has been an exciting year for me and I've enjoyed the challenge of fusing the popularity of football with science.

"Today's event really puts the work into context for the pupils and is a just reward for all their hard work and outstanding achievement over the first year. I look forward to having the opportunity to develop the module even further and continue to raise attainment and capture the imagination of primary school pupils next year too."

Scott Cohen, co-ordinator of the Arsenal Double Club and former secondary school teacher, added: ""Following the success of Arsenal's English and mathematics Double Clubs, it made sense to develop other modules. Science isn't an obvious extension to an initiative which channels the power of football into school subjects, but a very important one which shapes children's understanding of the world around them."

The innovative science-teaching initiative follows the successful Arsenal Double Club format of classroom exercises which are followed up with football coaching sessions with an Arsenal in the Community football coach. As a result, students gain extra motivation needed to raise their attainment. Science is the latest addition to Arsenal's existing wide repertoire of subjects covered in the scheme which include. numeracy, literacy, Information Computer Technology (ICT), geography, French and German which are all taught through the medium of football.

The innovative education scheme which began in 1998, Arsenal's 'Double' winning season, uses Arsenal resources and football-based classroom exercises to make learning fun. The classroom sessions, delivered by teachers, are followed by a 45-minute session of football coaching, using Arsenal's successful Soccer School's model.

As part of the partnership with Arsenal Football Club schools are offered tickets for Arsenal home matches on a rota basis.

Due to the success of the project, the Tower Hamlets OoSHL (Study Support) Service and Arsenal Double Club have continued the project and have expanded it to include primary schools, utilising Wendy Day's skills as a trained teacher in Key stages 2 and 3.

The lessons aim to support teachers with the instruction of science and to motivate pupils and engage those who need extra motivation and assistance with the subject. event will be included in th