Football Beyond Borders
Football Beyond Borders (FBB) is an education and social inclusion charity that supports young people living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage to gain the skills to thrive in mainstream education. We work with boys and girls in Key Stage 3, who are at risk of exclusion, eligible for Free School Meals and predicted to not attain their English and maths GCSEs. We currently work with over 2,900 young people across 50 schools in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. Our intervention is predicated on building young people’s social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and providing them with trusted adult relationships to help them re-engage positively with education.
We do this by delivering an SEL curriculum that is taught in the classroom and on the football pitch, providing 1:1 therapeutically informed mentoring and football-themed reward trips to incentivise long-term positive behaviour changes. Our work is guided by four theoretical foundations: Attachment Theory; Adolescent Neuro-Science; Developmental Trauma; and, Humanistic Therapy. This has formed our understanding that adolescence is a crucial developmental phase in which strong relationships, unconditional positive regard and positive group dynamics are crucial elements for the healthy self-actualisation of vulnerable young people.
We are delighted to be working with the Lightbulb Trust to support our ‘Practitioner Training Programme’ (PTP) that will see 46 of FBB’s delivery staff receive weekly university degree equivalent training to become the expert trusted adults that young people need to thrive in mainstream education. The funding will enable us to recruit an Operations Assistant to support the logistical challenges around the PTP, enabling us to develop and implement robust systems that will ensure we are delivering high quality training. This will also contribute to the costs of accredited qualifications, training equipment and external training.
Football Beyond Borders
Football Beyond Borders (FBB) is an education and social inclusion charity that supports young people living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage to gain the skills to thrive in mainstream education. We work with boys and girls in Key Stage 3, who are at risk of exclusion, eligible for Free School Meals and predicted to not attain their English and maths GCSEs. We currently work with over 2,900 young people across 50 schools in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. Our intervention is predicated on building young people’s social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and providing them with trusted adult relationships to help them re-engage positively with education.
We do this by delivering an SEL curriculum that is taught in the classroom and on the football pitch, providing 1:1 therapeutically informed mentoring and football-themed reward trips to incentivise long-term positive behaviour changes. Our work is guided by four theoretical foundations: Attachment Theory; Adolescent Neuro-Science; Developmental Trauma; and, Humanistic Therapy. This has formed our understanding that adolescence is a crucial developmental phase in which strong relationships, unconditional positive regard and positive group dynamics are crucial elements for the healthy self-actualisation of vulnerable young people.
We are delighted to be working with the Lightbulb Trust to support our ‘Practitioner Training Programme’ (PTP) that will see 46 of FBB’s delivery staff receive weekly university degree equivalent training to become the expert trusted adults that young people need to thrive in mainstream education. The funding will enable us to recruit an Operations Assistant to support the logistical challenges around the PTP, enabling us to develop and implement robust systems that will ensure we are delivering high quality training. This will also contribute to the costs of accredited qualifications, training equipment and external training.
Latest News
This year marks five years since I joined the Lightbulb Trust. We are a small grant-making foundation and impact investor,
15 September 2025 by Louise Marston Building on five years of proven impact, we’re launching the UK’s first dedicated investment fund for
Growing up in West London, I’ve seen first-hand the challenges young people face—whether it’s struggling with access to opportunities, mental
On the morning of November 27th, Lightbulb Trust hosted its annual breakfast with our partners, both longstanding and newly welcomed,
