Football-based mentoring found to boost wellbeing for at-risk pupils in England | Schools

Intensive mentoring for troubled schoolchildren using football kickabouts has significantly increased wellbeing, delivering happiness boosts equivalent to an unemployed adult getting a job, a study has found.

A project involving more than 2,000 pupils in dozens of secondary schools in Greater Manchester showed that instead of wellbeing declining among pupils at risk of exclusion who had behavioural issues and special educational needs, their happiness scores increased.

The charity behind the approach, Football Beyond Borders (FBB), sends mentors, or “coaches”, into schools to act as…