Rio Ferdinand takes part in an unforgettable poetry lesson

Former Premier League footballer and BT Sport presenter Rio Ferdinand took a trip down memory lane when he returned to his former school, Camelot Primary in Peckham. Rio surprised a class with an unforgettable poetry lesson on diversity - the theme for this year’s Premier League Writing Stars competition.

Rio helped inspire the class to write their own poems, talking to pupils about what he was like when he was at school and how hard work saw him achieve his dream of becoming a Premier League footballer.

The class impressed Rio with their poems on diversity and spent time discussing respect, tolerance and how our differences and similarities should be celebrated.

“It was great to be back at my old primary school for Premier League Writing Stars. Using children’s passion for football to inspire them to write creatively about the theme of diversity is really important and I’ve been very impressed by the poems I’ve heard.”

“I came from the estate opposite Camelot Primary School and as a Premier League footballer I have been lucky enough to travel around the world, meeting people from different backgrounds and who have different beliefs. I hope that by sharing my experiences with the children today it can have a positive impact on helping them to understand the importance of diversity and that although we are all different, we are very much the same.”

Premier League Writing Stars is open to all primary school pupils across England and Wales and is supported by the National Literacy Trust. Teachers have until Friday 21 December to submit their pupils’ poems either online or by post. Winners will be announced in March 2019.