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.