On Friday 17 April, Stephen Timms, the Member of Parliament for East Ham paid a visit to West Ham United's Learning Zone to see how their new initiative, Communicating for Success, is progressing.

The programme – which is sponsored by BT – is based at West Ham’s state-of-the-art Learning Zone.  It allows children to hone their football techniques, whilst also improving IT literacy and communication skills.  Pupils from four schools will initially take part in the programme and it is estimated that over 200 local school children will be involved.

After being introduced to representatives from West Ham United FC, the Football Foundation and Newham Council, Mr Timms spoke with children and parents taking an IT class which was being supervised by one of the 20 mentors who volunteer to help on the programme.  The children told Mr Timms they were using a 3-D graphic modelling programme to design their ideal home.  The children had to take into account the sustainability of the resources they were using whilst working within a budget.

Later on in the visit, Mr Timms was taken outside for a football training session for children on the programme.  He spoke to some of the coaches who are involved in different aspects of West Ham’s community outreach and joined in on one of the dribbling drills before being interviewed by West Ham’s own Internet TV station.

Speaking after the visit, Mr Timms said:

“Communicating for Success is a fantastic opportunity for children to improve their sporting ability and IT literacy.

“Many children in the Borough are very keen on sport - and many are supporters of West Ham FC.  By using their love for the game, this programme will help them think more widely about what sport can offer whilst at the same time giving them the opportunity to learn new IT skills that they can build on and use later in life.

“West Ham FC has a terrific record as a club serving its community, and the Communicating for Success progress is a good example.  I wish everyone involved well and hope the initiative goes from strength to strength.”