In a typical year, Chance to Shine works in over 4,000 primary schools every year, that’s around one in four across England and Wales, supporting schoolchildren from Year 1 all the way to Year 6 to take part in cricket. We also work in Scotland in partnership with Cricket Scotland.

We inspire children to be excited about the sport. We teach pupils how to play cricket and ensure that they learn academic and life skills whilst they take part. We support staff to teach the sport, so that they develop a culture of cricket within their school. We encourage schools to compete, internally or taking part in a local tournament, and help children to take the next steps to progress on their cricketing journey. 

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Our programme

Inspire

Our coaches inspire and enthuse the children about the sport of cricket. Our Spirit of Cricket assemblies are a brilliant way to introduce the sport and the values of the game to the pupils. At the heart of cricket are the values of fair play, teamwork and respect. Cricket is an inclusive sport where boys and girls play and develop together.

Play

Our coaches support school staff to deliver cricket sessions once a week for a six-week period and aim to develop the all-round skills of the children they work with, whilst improving the confidence of school staff to deliver sessions independently.

The sessions are specifically designed for the different ages and abilities of the children and make sure that, whether it’s the very first time a child has picked up a bat and a ball or if they play regularly at their local club, everyone learns and improves during the lesson.

The sessions ensure that children are achieving the skills they need, as set out in the national curriculum, like throwing, catching and ball-striking; and are enjoying themselves at the same time. 

Learn

As well as developing the technical skills of the children and getting them physically active, we use the sport to support the national curriculum through cricket-themed lessons.

Our Schools’ Portal has literacy and numeracy lessons that use cricket in the classroom. Whether it’s looking at fielding position coordinates or journalistic reporting, cricket can enthuse the children and we provide the lesson plans and resources to do it.

Throughout the sessions, coaches use cricket to teach children valuable life skills like teamwork, respect and communication. By focussing on developing the whole child and the achievement of ‘personal best’, our coaches develop the children’s social and mental wellbeing, building their confidence and improving their attitude towards sport.

Teach

It’s not just the children who get the opportunity to learn more about cricket, we also encourage their teachers to get involved. Many teachers tell us they see cricket as an intimidating sport and have avoided teaching it as a result.

The Chance to Shine coaches deliver informal training to the teachers so that, once the six-week period has ended, they too feel more confident with the sport and are able to build a sustainable culture of cricket within their school.

The Chance to Shine School’s Portal is a bank of free digital resources for teachers that gives them the lesson plans, instructional videos and top tips from England cricketers to coach their own sessions.

Compete 

Healthy competition is a great goal to work towards, and winning and losing with grace is an important skill for children to learn. We encourage schools to take part in local and regional competitions to give their pupils the experiences that come with testing themselves in that environment.

Progress 

Our coaches are locally-based and will also help any children that want to progress on to playing cricket out of school by directing them to their local club, All Stars Cricket centre or Chance to Shine Street project.