Derry City FC helps children ‘Escape’

A new project to help kids learn – and supported by Derry City Football Club – could be a model for other schemes throughout the North, according to the Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie.

The ‘Escape’ project is targeted at children in socially-deprived areas and will work with 10-14 year olds in the Triax area of the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Fountain and Bishop Street. It’s an out-of-school scheme which aims to improve reading and writing skills, working with numbers and IT skills.

It’s based on the ‘Playing for Success’ initiative adopted by sports clubs in England, and will involve Derry City. Manager Stephen Kenny said the club was delighted to support the project.

” This is a really worthwhile project. The club, perhaps more than any other club, is proud to be part of its local community and to be part of this project,” he said.

Students have already used the key link with the club on a number of projects that have included interviewing a number of players.

Minister Ritchie officially launched Escape (Education, Sports, Citizenship and Parents) on Wednesday. She said the Derry-based project which aims to improve educational inequalities in socially deprived areas could become the blueprint for addressing underachievement across the North.

“It is vital that all our children and young people, regardless of background, are given every opportunity to achieve their full potential. The Escape Project, which uses Information Technology, Sports and mentoring, aims to achieve just that. There is nothing to stop this type of project being replicated across the North.”

Study centre manager John McBride said ultimately the project wanted to break down the barriers to learning.

“There are way too many factors holding kids in deprived areas back,” he said. “We have encountered children with no access to computers, children who don’t read as a pastime, or for whom there is no culture of reading at home. The Escape project aims to break down the barriers associated with disadvantage.”

Mr McBride said the study support centre works in tandem with local schools, where he said “some fantastic work is being done.”

Adding that the Escape Project has been well received by the areas young students, he said a further 40 young people will engage with Escape’s work over the coming weeks.