Charlton Athletic forward Miles Leaburn visited students at Alexander McLeod Primary School in Greenwich this week as part of World Book Day celebrations.
Leaburn helped Charlton Athletic Community Trust’s (CACT) Bradley Marshall with a Premier League Primary Stars workshop about the Premier League values and the importance of reading.
The National Literacy Trust donated some brand-new books which Leaburn handed out to the young people.
When asked about the importance of reading, Leaburn said:
“When I was younger, I used to love reading the world cup books and also adventure books. Reading is just massive, especially from a young age as that’s when you learn the best so it’s important to embed it.”
CACT’s Senior Football and Sports Development Officer, Bradley Marshall, said:
“He was unbelievable with the children. He started talking about things that he enjoys reading. Some of the children had great questions for him. It was great to see him as part of the workshop we did handing out some books and telling the children how much he likes to read and what he has to read as part of being a professional footballer.”
Alexander McLeod Primary School’s Headteacher, Mohammad Mustafa, added:
“I think Miles did a fantastic job of breaking some of the stereotypes around who accesses books and reading. He did a really good job of emphasising the importance of reading in all professions including football.
“I think some of our children will think reading is something that we insist on but that there’s not really a purpose for it beyond the school gates and he did a fantastic job of emphasising the importance of reading in the real world as well.
“Of our own accord we would never have been able to facilitate such a fantastic visit but through our close partnership with the Trust we are able to do a range of really fantastic activities like we experienced today.”
