The Joy of Moving Home School Festival reached over 1,300 schools and engaged with thousands of families across England and Wales.

Recognising that children would miss out on their school sports day this year, the Joy of Moving Home School Festival aimed to fill that void and give children and families great activities to do at home.

The Home School Festival is part of the Joy of Moving programme which is an unbranded CSR project by Ferrero designed to help children develop valuable life skills and get moving.

Over the last six years, it has been developed and delivered in the UK in partnership with the English Football League Trust, through a combination of unbranded play-based games and classroom learning. Following the launch of the new online Resource Hub, the network of 73 Club Community Organisations delivered the Joy of Moving Home School Festival, using the power of football to engage with children, families and schools.

The digital festival was born in lockdown, repurposing the traditional delivery of the Joy of Moving programme during which Community Club Organisations deliver a festival in schools engaging all ages in games and activities throughout a single day.

At Shrewsbury Town in the Community, we were able to work with 15 different schools across Shropshire, with resources being delivered to over 1,500 pupils to help keep them engaged. Families were also able to get involved via our Live PE sessions taking place throughout that week, which used the resources from the Joy of Moving Home Festival, and also included some very special appearances from Shrewsbury Town mascot, Lenny the Lion!

Mike Evans, Chief Executive at EFL Trust said;

“The response to the Home School Festivals have been incredible. The EFL Trust team and our partners at Ferrero were determined to offer an alternative sports day and range of activities. The campaign engaged over 250,000 children across over 1,300 schools and also reached over 8 million people through social media. Home-schooling is a huge challenge for families across the country. The Joy of Moving Home School Festival was there to offer respite and fun for families in the safety of their own homes. I want to thank all the families for getting involved in the festival, and we encourage them to keep playing these games and activities.”

Charlie Cayton, Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at Ferrero UK, comments:

“Playing is an important element in children’s growth and development – and we know that children are more like to be active if they are enjoying themselves. Following the nation’s lockdown, we wanted to support parents at home to help them get children moving through play and having fun. Our Joy of Moving Festivals brings a smile to over 20,000 children in schools every year and we wanted to support families remotely by delivering this fun day of activity at home through our resource hub and partners at the English Football League Trust.“ Take a look at the festival hashtag #JOMHomeFestival to see what happened.

The Joy of Moving programme, a Ferrero CSR project, has been supporting Year 5 children across EFL Communities in the UK for the past 6 years. The Joy of Moving programme has consisted of two elements; the Move & Learn programme and Joy of Moving Festivals. Over 310,000 children have been introduced to moving and learning new skills, all while having fun and playing. To get involved with the Joy of Moving Games visit www.joyofmovingresourcehub.co.uk