DOZENS of schoolchildren inspired by sport to improve their writing skills were rewarded with a tour of Burnley FC’s Turf Moor stadium yesterday.

The home of the newly-crowned champions played host to a creative writing and sports workshop for nine to 11-year-old pupils from 11 primary schools in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The workshop was part of the “Literacy through Sport” programme, delivered by Pobble.com, and used the power of sport to motivate around 50 young writers, with a particular focus on boys.

Children from Heasandford Primary, Nelson St Philip’s, Pendle Primary, Great Marsden St John’s, St John Southworth, St Peter’s Primary, Water Primary, St John the Baptist, Padiham, St Leonard’s, St James’, Lanehead and Wellfield Church School attended.

Year six class teacher, Lauren Atkinson, took four pupils from Heasandford Primary to the event.

She said: “It was a great experience and a really exciting way to engage the children in writing stories.

“To use sport captures their imagination and attention and they felt really grown up going to the stadium.

“The staff from Burnley FC were great. We went in the changing rooms, offices, the tunnel and even on the pitch, which was a great thrill.”

Henry Smith, from Pobble, said: “The children took part in literacy workshops in the morning followed by a tour of Turf Moor in the afternoon.

“The workshops are inspired by sport and encourage youngsters to improve their reading and writing skills.”

The scheme works with teachers and students and is backed by a string of successful authors including Michael Morpurgo and Anthony Horowitz.

Government studies countrywide have shown boys are often out- performed by their female class mates, with more than a third failing to reach the expected level in writing and a quarter struggling with numbers.

Linking creative writing and reading with sport is designed to capture the imagination of the youngsters.

Britain is ranked the 17th most literate country, with Scandinavian and Nordic countries making up the top five and the US and Germany at seven and eight.