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One of our Charitable Trust’s main successes is our Chess in Schools programme that been rolled out into local Primary and Secondary schools.

Please read below recent positive feedback for this Chess Initiative.

“In class we have a ‘Looked after child’ who lacks both self-esteem and confidence. He suffers bouts of depression and is volatile with his behaviour. Since meeting Russell (the gentlemen who teaches the children chess), this boy has developed a keen interest in the game. During sessions you can clearly see the pupil calm down and relax (it is indeed lovely to see). This pupil is very good at Maths and therefore has an aptitude for the game.

I really do think that if he had not been given this opportunity to learn chess at school he would not have had the opportunity at all. Over recent months this pupil has gained confidence and is not so ‘down on himself’ –  calling himself useless etc. Instead now I hear him say “I am good at chess”. As a teacher I am delighted to hear him speak like this. We follow Positive Behaviour Therapy at our school and those pupils who present challenging behaviour are placed on what we call a scatterplot; these allow us to track the pupils behaviour and number/nature of incidents. I am delighted to inform you that this pupil’s scatterplot has shown a significant decrease in challenging behaviours. I strongly feel that due to the chess and him finally recognising that he is good at something has in part had an impact on his behaviour. He looks forward to the weekly sessions; which is great as it is difficult to engage him sometimes in school work.

The skills chess improve are multiple: concentration, thinking, strategy, numeracy, literacy, empathy to name a few. Many of the children engage enthusiastically and look forward to the sessions. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Linda Hawkins Greenfield School.