In order to bring the Club and the Trust closer to our younger supporters, the Trust runs a project now known as the Schools’ Programme….
The Beginning
In 2018 the Trust instigated a project designed to make more youngsters aware of the work of the Trust and the Club. They felt this could be best achieved by making working with the Trust an integral part of some secondary school examination courses.
Extended discussions were held with the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) and eventually this led to the Swans Trust devising an approved “Challenge” for pupils in the 14-16 age group that formed part of their Welsh Baccalaureate and Key Skills Qualifications. Pupils would be asked to devise and present ideas that would improve the match day experience for younger supporters.
When tackling the Challenge many pupils had discussions at, and tours of, the stadium. They met Trust Board members and Club Ambassadors at their schools to review their progress. Finally, they pitched their ideas to panels including senior club administrative staff and Swansea legends such as Lee Trundle and Leon Britton. The WJEC’s website featured the work on the Challenge at Dwr y Felin School as an example of good practice while, at Leon’s suggestion, one group’s idea was trialled at the stadium on a match-day. Throughout the Trust was highly indebted to the Club for providing access to their facilities and tours of the stadium, all without charge, and without its support the initiative would not have been the success it has been.
Over the next two years the number of schools involved in the project spread across three education authorities: Swansea, Neath/Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire. Well over a thousand pupils achieved the Challenge, helping them towards their Welsh Baccalaureate and the programme looked to be going from strength to strength.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the project was literally stopped in its tracks. Visiting schools and any behind the scenes work at the stadium became impossible and there was no other alternative but to immediately suspend all work on the programme.
Post Covid the Trust began reaching out to schools once again in an effort to build upon the progress that had been achieved before the pandemic. Understandably schools had other priorities at that time but thanks to their understanding, and the Trust’s perseverance, the Schools’ Programme was relaunched in Autumn 2022.
A Second Approach
One of the significant problems teachers/lecturers of Economics and Business Studies face is the lack of opportunities for their pupils/students to visit large businesses and obtain meaningful detailed information about how they are run.
Consequently, in addition to once more making our Welsh Baccalaureate Challenge available for 14–16-year-olds the programme now offers Economics and Business Studies students up to the age of eighteen a chance to treat the Club as a case study by visiting the stadium to gain an insight into the operation of one of Swansea’s larger businesses. They enjoy a tour of the stadium followed by the opportunity to ask questions on business aspects of the Club such as the ownership patterns, cost structures and levels, revenue streams, investment and generally how modern-day finances impact a football club business like Swansea City. This includes the framework of the EFL’s “Profitability and Sustainability” regulations and their potential effect on the Club.
The introduction of this Economics and Business strand to the Initiative has allowed the Trust to involve tertiary colleges for the first time so that groups from Neath Port Talbot College and both campuses of Gower College have been involved. To date nearly 3000 pupils and students from local schools and colleges in the 14-18 age group have taken part across the two aspects of the programme. They have been studying for a range of qualifications including GCSE and A Level Business, A Level Economics, BTEC Business Levels 1/2/3 and the Welsh Baccalaureate.
Of course, by no means all of these are football fans. Of those that are, some will have allegiances other than Swansea via family links etc – some even support “that lot up the road”! Increasingly, the longer we are out of the Premiership, we find those who support “bigger Clubs” than Swansea. Hopefully the experience they have during our Schools’ Programme helps bring at least a few back into the Swansea fold.
If anyone has any questions to ask about the Schools’ Initiative project, or perhaps would like to be involved in its delivery, please email Project Leader Roger Goodwin on roger.goodwin@swanstrust.co.uk.
Once again, the Trust is extremely grateful to the Club for continuing to consistently provide room hire and stadium tours free of charge without which the experience for the young people would be greatly diminished.
Last updated May 2026