Community event staged at the club
A total of 1,500 school pupils attended a Junior Citizen scheme at AFC Wimbledon - and a sense of excitement about the choice of venue was even shared by teachers attending this event!
Pupils participated in real life scenarios at the club with help from the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and community agencies.
The programme organised by Kingston Borough Council aims to prepare children to move up from primary school to secondary school with all of the year six pupils in Kingston Borough in attendance.
There was certainly plenty of enthusiasm about the event being staged at a football club.
Imelda Haines, coordinator of the Junior Citizen scheme, said: “The children were quite excited when they went out into the stand. I heard singing and chanting of football songs from children when they came into the stadium and they enjoyed that.
“It was also very obvious that one of the teaching assistants from a school was a Wimbledon supporter as he came in with his Wimbledon tracksuit and coat on!
“The scheme has been staged over two weeks here with all of the year six pupils from Kingston Borough taking part in real-life scenarios. For example, one of the scenarios conducted by the police teaches children what they should do if a stranger approaches them.
Children have been participating in role play with 10 scenarios in total. When they move up to secondary school many of the children will be making their own way home on buses and trains so the scheme tackles safety issues that they could face.” “We’ve also had the Royal National Lifeboats Institution (RNLI) teaching children about emergency situations and Hope UK talking about the dangers of drugs and alcohol misuse.
The picture above shows members of the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, RNLI and other community agencies who helped put on the event.