Chance to Shine is a national charity on a mission to spread the power of cricket throughout schools and communities. Since 2005, the Chance to Shine Schools programme has helped reverse the decline in cricket in state schools.
Working in close partnership with ECB, all 39 County Cricket Boards and hundreds of local cricket clubs, the charity has got over five million boys and girls in more than 17,000 state schools playing and learning through cricket. 80% of children say that they want to play more cricket after their Chance to Shine sessions.
Chance to Shine works in schools by giving young people the opportunity to pick up a bat and a ball, many of them for the first time. Through playing cricket, children are supported to develop their physical and mental wellbeing. They are also given the opportunity to develop as individuals, learning skills like leadership and communication, all whilst making new friends.
Chance to Shine Street takes the game, and its educational benefits, to disadvantaged inner-city areas with a lack of green spaces and traditional cricket clubs.
The charity uses the power of cricket to engage young people from a range of backgrounds, increase aspiration and promote respect. There are more than 200 projects across the country and over 80% of Street cricketers are from diverse ethnic backgrounds. For many, this is their only physical activity outside of school and 87% were not members of a traditional cricket club when they started playing at their local project.
Over the past 15 years, Chance to Shine has shown that cricket has the power to bring young people from all walks of life together and teach life skills that will stay with them forever. The charity is committed to giving all young people the chance to play the game, learn from it and to develop as individuals.
Hear how Chance to Shine is making a difference to young people like Faizah:
Free resources for schools
The Chance to Shine Portal hosts resources for Primary and Secondary Schools to help teachers deliver their own cricket PE sessions. Step-by-step instructions, diagrams and videos help to guide teachers and give them the skills and confidence to deliver cricket in their school.
There are also cricket-themed core subject lessons including literacy, numeracy and PSHE, that use the excitement of the sport on the playground to support learning within the classroom.
The digital platform allows the charity to reach every state school in the country while continuing to provide around 600,000 children each year with professional cricket coaching sessions. Chance to Shine has worked with Youth Sport Trust to develop the resources for those teachers with little experience of teaching PE.
They include a six-week core coaching plan for delivering cricket practically in Key Stage 1 and 2. For secondary schools, there are literacy and numeracy lessons as well as a programme to develop leadership skills in pupils.
All sessions are linked to the National Curriculum and mapped to the ECB’s All Stars Cricket programme in cricket clubs.
Lord’s Taverners
The Lord’s Taverners is the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. The charity works across the UK and beyond to ensure that disadvantaged and disabled young people have access to free sport and all the benefits playing it can bring.
Lord’s Taverners
The charity is working to break down barriers and empower young people to fulfil their potential, build inclusive communities and lay the foundations for a positive future through free cricket programmes:
Table Cricket
Aimed at disabled 8-18 year olds who would otherwise have no access to sport, table cricket is a pan-disability form of cricket played around a table tennis table. We organise a national programme of delivery in schools and community groups and run the annual national competition, open to everyone who participates, that culminates in a Finals Day at Lord’s.
Super 1s
Based in communities rather than schools, Super 1s offers disabled young people aged 12-25 an inclusive opportunity to play cricket at grassroots level. We work in 20 locations across the UK, setting up local hubs where young people can come together, play, and learn vital life skills.
Wicketz
Designed to tackle disadvantage, Wicketz is a community cricket programme for children facing severe deprivation across the UK. Each of the 17 projects deals with issues in the local area, from health and wellbeing concerns to police and safety problems. Participants come along for the cricket and stay for the team building, leadership and personal development opportunities.
Sports Kit Recycling
We receive donated kit from all over the UK. We then sort, pack and redistribute kit to projects all over the world – from youth teams in England, to girls’ projects in Brazil, refugee support programmes in Germany and slum projects in India.