Wembley Stadium’s Learning Zone today celebrates its first anniversary after being officially opened last year by Children's Minister Kevin Brennan MP and England U21 Coach, Stuart Pearce.

In the first year, 210 pupils from 15 local schools undertook the core 20 hour after school study support course which helps them with their learning in the areas of literacy, numeracy and ICT. Such is the success and popularity of these courses that spaces have now been fully allocated until January 2010, with 270 pupils from 18 schools set to benefit during 2009.

Jeff Smith who is head teacher of Anson Primary School said “The Learning Zone provides intensive and extended learning support for our young people in Brent. It is a unique and exciting environment that motivates and inspires.”

His views were echoed by Mark Betts, head teacher of St Joseph's School in Wembley who said “The whole experience has been so positive for our pupils, they are so excited to be involved and the impact on their self esteem has been amazing!"

The Learning Zone provides exciting learning opportunities for the young people of Brent. It is jointly funded by the Department of Children Schools and Families through their Playing for Success initiative which has established out of school hours study support centre’s at football clubs and other sports’ grounds in the UK, Brent Council and Wembley Stadium. It provides an open and flexible learning environment that uses state-of-the-art technology and fun and creative interactive exercises to engage young people in learning and developing skills. The centre allows young people to develop their literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills whilst building confidence and self esteem in a truly inspirational setting.

The Learning Zone also hosted delegates from both the Dutch government and the European Parliament in 2008 who were interested to see and learn how Wembley Stadium is providing opportunities for young people to learn and see the benefits of running such a scheme.

To celebrate the anniversary we decided to have a catch up with Wayne Smith, Wembley Stadium’s Learning Zone Manager to find out how the year has been …

So Wayne, busy year then?
Yes really busy and really successful too. The first year’s always a bit of an unknown but everyone’s got right behind the Learning Zone from the staff at the stadium and the local council to the schools themselves. We’ve had some really encouraging feedback from teachers and people in the local community and I’ve also got to meet some really special young people.

What’s the Learning Zone all about then?
Its all about providing additional study support in an inspirational setting out of standard school hours. If we can engage young people in learning and help them make progress through harnessing their interest in football or music then that’s a really positive thing to do. School classrooms are practical, but they don’t always inspire children. At the Learning Zone we mix up traditional learning with interactive sessions, motivational talks and Stadium Tours and use state of the art learning technology. The Learning Zone is open primarily during term time on weekdays and at the moment is available to schools and students around Brent.

Who qualifies to take part in the Learning Zone courses?
The centre is available to local Brent students between the ages of 9 and 13. Parents who want to find out more can ask through their child's school.

Do other stadiums have similar centres?
Yes although in my view, Wembley’s leads the way in terms of what it delivers and offers the young people who attend the courses. Through the government’s Playing for Success initiative, all of the Premier league clubs have centre’s as to do many of the football league clubs and non-league clubs. The idea has now been rolled out to other sports too including athletics, horseracing and motor racing.

What makes Wembley’s centre special?
Its two things I think, the setting and the facilities. Nowhere is as inspirational as the national stadium and there is so much for young people to learn from the project. In addition to business, there are opportunities to learn about design, construction, media and operations. There are such a wide variety of careers on show at Wembley from grounds keeping to security and from events management to construction. The facilities are also second to none and the centre has benefitted from the provision of software and hardware from the stadium’s Founding Partner Microsoft.

What’s been the highlight of the year for you?
Well the launch was obviously really special for me personally after all the work that went into securing the funding, engaging support along the way and getting it all set up. When the first group of young people from Roe Green Junior School arrived in January as part of a pilot scheme it felt like all the hard work had really been worth it.

There must have been a number of really special moments during the year, what stands out for you?
There have been many. Some are accidental for example when our pupils are having a tour of the stadium and bump into Liam Gallagher from Oasis! Others are planned and its always great for us to be involved in big events. In September, more than 100 of our local pupils from Anson Primary School got the chance to meet David Beckham at Wembley and learn all about healthy eating. That was pretty amazing. Beckham was launching his own healthy eating range for young people and it was fantastic to be able involve some of the young people from The Learning Zone. He is the idol of so many of those children so to meet him here, shake his hand and talk to him was a really inspiring moment for them. At the same time they got to learn some really important lessons about the importance of healthy eating, so the educational element is always evident.

So will you be celebrating the anniversary in any way?
Well its very much business as usual as we have sessions to run today, but I’m quite sure there be a birthday cake or two doing the rounds.

What else do the students get involved in doing at the Learning Zone?
The Stadium Tours are really popular and often we will tailor them to focus on a particular area for example media, and the pupils will get to run a press conference and visit the media areas and see what writers, photographers and broadcasters do at a stadium event. In addition to the core activities, there are often other opportunities that come up over the duration of their course. For example in October, 50 of our pupils from Chalkhill and Oakington Manor Primary Schools were given the chance to be the first to test out the FA Cup Trophy tour at Wembley before it took to the road. On another occasion, the Learning Zone was visited by poet Paul Iles who worked with students from two local schools and helped them to produce a series of verses on football which will make up part of his next book of poems.

Coca Cola used the Learning Zone back in October to host the finals of their West London young enterprise challenge for over 200 secondary school pupils from the area. They brought in entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den star Levi Roots to talk to 100 students from ten local schools, and they then spent the day designing a new soft drink and coming up with a marketing strategy to tie in with the 2012 Olympics.

What future plans do you have?
Well you’ve already heard that we are now fully booked up until January 2010, so the courses are clearly popular and we are in for a busy year ahead. Outside of the core study support course, we will also be looking to run activity days and courses for Brent students during the half terms and school holidays along with KS2 revision courses. We’ve also just secured funding to run an outreach programme in local secondary schools alongside the Middlesex FA and their football coaches and this will combine classroom learning with playing football. The Learning Zone is a fantastic resource and our aim is to use it as much as possible.