HeadStart Awards Day Highlights Pupil Progress
30th January 2026
On the 17th of December, Rochdale AFC Community Trust hosted the HeadStart celebration event. Over 50 participants attended the event who had engaged in the HeadStart programme through Rochdale AFC Community Trust, Wigan Athletic Community Trust and Bolton Wanderers in the Community as well as representatives from EFL in the Community.
The day started with participants from each community trust showcasing their progress and engagement with the programme. Each mental health transformation officer gave an overview of their programme and how this had been implemented into a number of different schools and then the participants shared stories of the programme helping them and some of their favourite moments on the programme as well as their top tips for year sixes getting ready to start the programme.
In the afternoon, the participants took part in a carousel or workshops and activities including archery, code breaker, animal dream team and an escape room! All the teams worked together to complete the workshops and beat the other community trusts!
The day was concluded with an awards presentation for all the HeadStart participants to recognise and celebrate their progress on the HeadStart programme as well as identify the pupils who had engaged in the workshops really well. Participants from Rochdale won 3 of the 4 awards for the workshops!
