Enhancing the mental, moral and physical development of school children through football. Safeguarding Officer: Paul Jackson [email protected]
Gravesend, South East
Joined May 2015
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Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
🚫 Keep hate out of football this season.
Grassroots football thrives when everyone feels safe and respected. If you witness or experience discrimination anywhere in Kent, report it.
Help us protect our game 👇
🔗 EnglandFootball.com
#KentFootball #Respect
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Join us in remembrance. Veterans, families and neighbours are welcome.
📅 Sunday 8 Nov, 11 am:
Windmill Hill Memorial Gardens, Gravesend
War Memorial, Northfleet
📅 Armistice Day, 11 Nov, 10.55 am:
Community Square, Civic Centre, Gravesend
Please share our invitation.
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Turns out Diego Gomez is no stranger to shooting from beyond the halfway line 😳
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Looking forward to the trials over the half-term holiday for this season's @kentschools_fa U11 County Squad.
⚽️Schools Rep Football - a unique and special experience.
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Another great day of Schools District Football on Saturday!
All results and tables are on the @kentschools_fa website.
🤖 Made with AI
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Another busy day of @kentschools_fa inter-district football coming up tomorrow!
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
An excellent opportunity for the best players who will be in Year 7 at a Gravesham secondary school in September to step up from school and club football and enjoy the unique and special experience of district football ⚽️
We will be holding trials for our U12s Boys squad on Thursday 25th June.
To register please use the following form.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Trials to be held on June 25th. To register a player to have the opportunity to play with and against the best players in Kent please use the following link:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
or email [email protected]
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
Schools Rep Football - a unique and special experience
@kentschools_fa Inter-District Football.
Regular Saturday fixtures - the ideal complement to club football.
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
We will be holding trials for our U12s Boys squad on Thursday 25th June.
To register please use the following form.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
We’re hiring! 🔍⚽
The English Schools’ FA is looking for a Safeguarding Officer to support this vital area of our work and help ensure young people across schools’ football can play in a safe, positive environment.
This part-time, fixed-term role offers flexible working, a supportive team environment and the opportunity to make a real difference to children and young people in football.
If you’re organised, detail-focused and passionate about keeping children safe in sport, we’d love to hear from you.
📅 Application deadline: 8 March
🔗 Find out more on how to apply on our wesbite - loom.ly/oEOFdYU
Help us continue to provide safe opportunities for young people to enjoy the game.
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
⚽️Play football at School
⚽️Play football for your School
⚽️Play football for your District
⚽️Play football for your County
⚽️Play football for your Country
✅Talent is everywhere in schools football
✅Opportunity is everywhere in schools football
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
🌐Safer Internet Day reminds us that staying safe online is just as important as staying safe on the pitch⚽
Let’s work together to help children enjoy the digital world responsibly, respectfully, and securely.
#SaferInternetDay #PlaySafeStaySafe
🔴🔵⚪
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
ESFA Schools’ Football Week in partnership with Pokémon ⚽🔴🔵⚪
Schools Football Week encourages more girls to take part in football and physical activity in ways that work for them.
Taking part can help build confidence, friendships and a positive school experience.
👉 DON’T MISS OUT – REGISTER YOUR INTEREST TODAY
📅 23 March – 29 March 2026
Parents, please tag your child’s school or share this with a teacher to help your school register.
🔗 Register here:
loom.ly/-9f8iG0
🔴🔵⚪ #ESFA #SchoolsFootballWeek #GirlsFootball
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
"You wouldn’t stand next to a child in a classroom shouting answers
You wouldn’t hover during an exam dictating every choice
You wouldn’t control a child learning to write by grabbing the pencil
So why do we tolerate it in sport? Football is a learning environment"
Spot on
Tonight I coached and something broke 💔
Tonight I coached an U12 game.
And I know this first truth already:
I can’t change the whole culture of adults shouting from the sidelines in one evening.
But something has to change.
👉🏻 This wasn’t encouragement.
👉🏻 This wasn’t support.
👉🏻 This was adults coaching from the side.
❌ Constant instructions.
❌ Constant corrections.
❌ Constant noise.
You could see it on the players.
Heads turning to the sideline.
Arms dropping in frustration.
Focus breaking.
Enjoyment leaking away, minute by minute.
These were children trying to learn while being remotely controlled.
Then it crossed a line.
One adult deliberately moved closer to the pitch.
⚠️ Not to see better.
⚠️ Not to encourage.
But to position himself next to his younger brother so he could instruct every action.
▪️Pass.
▪️Move.
▪️Turn.
▪️Press.
▪️Don’t press.
An 11-year-old being coached like a PlayStation controller.
No space to think.
No chance to decide.
No freedom to play.
And you could feel it, the joy draining out of the child in real time.
This isn’t help, it isn’t in the child’s best interest.
🤯 It’s ego-driven.
I had to intervene.
Not as a coach protecting tactics.
As an adult protecting a child.
I politely asked the referee to move the adult back to where all other parents were positioned.
And then the question that should make every adult uncomfortable:
➡️ In what other learning environment would this be acceptable?
💬 You wouldn’t stand next to a child in a classroom shouting answers.
💬 You wouldn’t hover during an exam dictating every choice.
💬 You wouldn’t control a child learning to write by grabbing the pencil.
So why do we tolerate it in sport?
Football is a learning environment.
The pitch is the classroom.
Mistakes are part of the lesson.
Children cannot learn when they are constantly managed by adults who confuse involvement with control.
If you want to help:
👉🏻 Encourage.
👉🏻 Applaud effort.
👉🏻 Support the coach.
👉🏻 Trust the process.
But stop coaching from the sideline.
✅ Let the children play.
✅ Let them think.
✅ Let them struggle.
✅ Let them learn together with their coach and their team.
Because tonight wasn’t about football.
It was about a child almost losing their love for the game because adults couldn’t step back.
And that should never be the cost of youth sport.
(Posted about my experience last Friday night)
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
📣 Volunteer Vacancies 📣
The English Schools’ FA is seeking to further diversify its decision making bodies to better reflect the needs and aspirations of those with disabilities and to improve inclusion in this area. We are seeking to make two appointments within our governance structures, as follows:
⚽ Governing Council Member
⚽ Inclusion Advisory Network (IAN) Member
Council is responsible for decisions about football delivery strategy and the IAN is responsible for providing specific inclusion advice to both Council and the Board of Trustees across all aspects of the ESFA.
If you are passionate about inclusion, governance and making a meaningful impact within schools’ football, we would love to hear from you.
📅 Deadline for applications: 8th February 2026
🔗 Find out more - loom.ly/1IHCrco
📧 Applications to: [email protected]
🔴🔵⚪
Gravesham Schools FA retweeted
ESFA Schools’ Football Week in partnership with Pokémon ⚽
Movement and being active together can help support focus and wellbeing for young people at secondary school.
Schools’ Football Week takes place from 📅 23 March – 29 March 2026 📅
👉 Parents, please share this with your child’s school or PE teacher and encourage them to register:
loom.ly/-9f8iG0
🔴🔵⚪ #ESFA #SchoolsFootballWeek
