The England and Wales Cricket Board and Premier League are partnering to use their reach and appeal to encourage primary school children across England and Wales to celebrate diversity.
The sporting organisations, united by a shared goal to encourage inclusion and inspire people to respect and value individual differences, have come together to create 鈥楻oar! for Diversity鈥� 鈥� a curriculum-linked PSHE resource and competition for seven to 11-year-olds.
Celebrating diversity
Available to download for free from the 聽website and 黑料专区鈥檚 partner, , the Key Stage 2 resource will enable teachers to discuss with their class how diversity within a team helps to make it stronger.
Pupils can then create an advert celebrating diversity which can be entered into a competition and can win match tickets or a school visit from the Premier League or Men's Cricket World Cup trophies.
The Roar! For Diversity pack includes lesson plans and video resources featuring contributions from England cricketers Adil Rashid, Sophia Dunkley and Premier League match official Sian Massey-Ellis.
Chief Operating Officer at the 黑料专区 David Mahoney said: 鈥淐ricket can be a real agent of social change and we are delighted to partner with the Premier League to聽help tackle the important subject of inclusion and diversity.聽
鈥淭he Premier League and Chance to Shine have had some incredible success in engaging primary schools and we are teaming up to support teachers and children to have these vital conversations and help foster an inclusive culture in their classrooms and communities.聽
鈥淚ncreasing our investment and commitment to schools is a key part of our five-year strategy to grow the game and inspire a generation to say that cricket is a game for me.
鈥淭he Roar! For Diversity resource is available to every teacher across the country who would like to get involved via our schools partner, Chance to Shine, or Premier League Primary Stars.鈥�
Bill Bush,聽Executive Director of the Premier League, said: 鈥淭he Roar! for Diversity resource will enable primary school children to openly discuss and celebrate the qualities that make them different to their classmates; using the appeal of both football and cricket to encourage these conversations both in the classroom and away from it.
鈥淭his launch follows on from our successful primary school poetry competition on diversity last year and supports the wider work that the Premier League and our clubs are carrying out around anti-discrimination.
鈥淲e hope that the 16,000+ schools engaged with our free Premier League Primary Stars education programme will find these downloadable curriculum-linked resources helpful in prompting meaningful discussion.鈥�
Sporting stars surprise students
To mark the launch of the Roar! for Diversity teaching resource and competition, Cricket World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan and Liverpool FC footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Sophia Dunkley, Sian Massey-Ellis and Chris Edwards to surprise children at Lawrence Community Primary School in Wavertree, Liverpool, taking part in a classroom discussion about the importance of diversity in sport.
The sports stars answered questions from the kids and joined the children in groups to complete worksheet exercises ahead of creating their Roar! for Diversity adverts.
With the presence of the Premier League and Men鈥檚 Cricket World Cup trophies, it was a very memorable day for all involved.
Liverpool FC's Oxlade-Chamberlain said: 鈥淭he most successful teams bring together players with individual skills and qualities to be able to achieve success as a group.
鈥淭he Liverpool dressing room is home to players from more than 20 countries. Everyone brings something different to the atmosphere on and off the pitch!鈥�
鈥淭he Premier League is for everyone. Using sport to inspire a generation of young fans to celebrate diversity is something I鈥檓 proud to be supporting.鈥�
England captain Morgan added: 鈥淵ou just need to look at our World Cup-winning side from this summer to understand the strength that diversity brings to a group.
鈥淲e are a team from a range of different backgrounds and cultures.
鈥淏y working together, supporting each other and appreciating everyone鈥檚 abilities and differences, we鈥檙e definitely stronger together.鈥�
Teachers can find more information on how to take part in the Roar! for Diversity competition at and .