Author Trip

Year 5 children went to Highgate School to meet Ben Lyttleton, journalist, broadcaster and award-winning science and sports writer.

Ben is co-author of the inspirational book series 'Football School'. These books ingeniously explain the world through football. 

The books cover all the subjects of the school curriculum such as Biology, Geography and Drama using football as the focus. They are illustrated with hilarious cartoons and full of fun facts and quizzes.

 Ben explained to the children that he and his co-author, Alex Bellos, were inspired to write these books because they love football and thought that it would be a good way to learn about the world.

As a young boy, Ben always had a football with him and spent as much time as possible playing the game.

The books are based on a school timetable and divided into lessons. 

Here are a few examples of the lessons.

Biology

Question: What is the right sort of food for a footballer to eat before a match?

Answer: Chicken with boiled potatoes and carrots or Fish with rice and brocoli. These are foods that contain lots of carbohydrates that give you energy to run around for 90 minutes chasing a ball!

Ben and teacher doing the samba

Geography

Question: Why are Brazilian Footballers such skilled players?

Answer: Brazil's national music style is called samba and they all learn to wiggle their hips which is really useful if you are a footballer and need to wiggle pass defenders.

Michael - Tanzanite demonstrating a goal celebration

Drama

Question:What acting do footballers do on the pitch?

Answer: Diving - this is when a player acts injured to get penalties. Goal Celebrations - this is when a player does flips, somersaults and other gestures to celebrate a goal.

Ada - Tanzanite being shown a red card

Matteo - Tanzanite meets the author to get a signed copy of his book

The children all had an engaging morning learning about the world, football and books.

At times it was just like being in a football stadium with lots of cheering and booing!

Thank you to Ben Lyttleton, Highgate School and Pickled Pepper Books.

More information on interesting Football/School Facts can be found on   YouTube.com/Football/SchoolFacts

Love Football, love School!