A social action group from one of our partner high schools has been at Wembley Stadium to represent Manchester United Foundation as part of a national event centring around mental health.

Pupils from Dean Trust Rose Bridge in Wigan were selected as winners of an inter-school Foundation competition to design a Happy To Chat space – an initiative encouraging young people to kickstart a conversation with other pupils in their school.

This also led to them becoming the Foundation’s representatives for the event at Wembley; a Premier League Inspires challenge celebration, with more than 200 young people attending from across 45 club community organisations.

The pupils had the opportunity to present their Happy To Chat Space to their peers from other clubs, and later also had the opportunity to spend time sightseeing in the capital, as a reward for their fantastic work as part of the trip.

Niccola Massey, Student Life Skills Manager for the Foundation, said: “We’re so proud of the young people at Dean Trust Rose Bridge for representing the Foundation with distinction at the Premier League Inspires Challenge.

“Wembley has been such an aspirational environment for the young people to spend time in and particularly in an educational setting, seeing the opportunities available in football.

“Going pitchside at the national stadium and presenting to their peers really puts these pupils’ amazing achievements into perspective. We’re so proud of all their work.”

The Happy To Chat initiative was launched across our partner schools earlier in the season, also forming part of the Inspires challenge focusing on mental health. Schools from across our partner primary, secondary and special educational needs network have seen pupils develop their own creative spaces dedicated to mental health.

The pupils at Dean Trust Rose Bridge even had their efforts recognised with a visit from their local MP for Wigan, Lisa Nandy.

We also deliver the United Minds programme across our partner schools, which engaged more than 2,000 pupils during the 2022/23 season, helping young people to develop and nurture healthy wellbeing strategies.

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