Chelsea FC Foundation tasked groups from Fulham Cross Academy, Fulham Boys, Fulham Girls and the Winston Churchill School with creating a social action plan in January, with the aim of tackling and addressing environmental sustainability.

The recent event, held at Stamford Bridge, celebrated the work the students had put in over the past few months. Within each school, competitions were held to decide which group would represent them at the famous stadium.

After introductory talks from the panellists outlining their roles, each group took turns to present their campaigns – which featured feedback from the panel and an open floor to questions from the other groups.

The panel included the Foundation’s very own education officer, Alfie Butwell, alongside Alice Curran from Future Foundations and Patrick Neill, partnerships manager at the Premier League.

The Fulham Cross Girls School were announced as the best campaign by the panel of judges. The group’s action plan aimed to introduce ‘eco-points’ to their school, awarding staff and pupils for being eco-friendly. Alongside the eco-points, the school said they would create two mini gardens as green space, using recycled materials to create sustainable and environmentally friendly items such as bug hotels, bee flowers and home-made benches made using wood pallets.

Alice Thompson, teacher at Fulham Cross Girls, said: ‘Students at FCGS have been working hard to implement social actions and change in their school community, with doing better for our planet and ecosystem and sustainability at the forefront of their mind.

‘I am really proud of every single one of them and grateful that I was able to witness future change and leaders first-hand.’

One of the students from the winning team said: ‘I was so nervous, but the judges were really kind and asked some really good questions so now we are able to adapt our social actions.’

Patrick Neill of the Premier League added: ‘As a lifelong Chelsea fan, it was a pleasure to judge their Premier League Inspires challenge final heat.

‘I was hugely impressed with the creativity, confidence and passion shown throughout, and it was abundantly clear that all individuals had grown immeasurably as a result of their respective journeys. Ultimately, Fulham Cross Girls School were the worthy winners, and I wish them the best of luck for the national finals.’