Primary school children in Liverpool get a helping hand with literacy project from two-time world champion Natasha Jonas MBE as part of social programme linked to World Boxing Championships 2025

PUPILS at Our Lady’s Bishop Eton Primary School in Liverpool, got a surprise when two-time professional world champion and 2012 Olympian, Natasha Jonas MBE, dropped-in to help out during a sport-based literacy lesson.

The lesson was part of a project called Literacy Kicks that is being delivered to more than 1,200 pupils in 20 Primary Schools across the Liverpool City Region as part of a Social Impact Programme linked to the forthcoming World Boxing Championships, 4-14 September 2025.

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Literacy Kicks is one of the key educational pillars of the Social Impact Programme and uses sport as a theme to engage young people in reading and writing by taking them inside the world of sport journalism.

The lesson delivered at Our Lady’s Bishop Eton was based around boxing and a specially created workbook that highlighted the forthcoming World Boxing Championships and the achievements of Natasha and other famous boxers from Liverpool including Tony Bellew, David Price, John Conteh and the Smith brothers.

As part of the session, more than 50 pupils from Year five also got to take part in a non-contact boxing session, delivered by Natasha and England Boxing’s Coach Educator and Club Support Officer for the region, Alexandra Vass.

Natasha said: “It was brilliant to spend time at the school and see first-hand how the Literacy Kicks programme is using boxing and the World Championships in Liverpool to help school-aged children with reading and writing.

“By giving them an opportunity to experience how a sports journalist works, it gives the pupils an opportunity to learn and write about something that is of interest to them and shows how sport can be a really powerful way of getting people’s attention and then influencing their behaviour constructively.

“It is great that Literacy Kicks is being delivered in so many schools as part of the social programme and I am sure it will have a really positive impact on all of the schools and pupils that are taking part.”

Tom Maher, Assistant Head, Our Lady’s Bishop Eton, added: “It was absolutely fantastic to have Natasha come into the school.  She is such a positive role model and all of the pupils really enjoyed seeing and meeting her.

“Getting children to enjoy writing is a widely acknowledged issue in education so the beauty of the Literacy Kicks approach is that it gives them a purpose and a reason to write because in a lot of cases they are doing it about something in which they have an interest. 

“Having Natasha present in the sessions here really reinforced that. It was very clear that when the children came to do the literacy exercise, which featured the World Boxing Championships, they were much more engaged and enthusiastic about the task.

“It helps to give learning English language a purpose and might even inspire some of our pupils to write more or, longer term, consider a career in something like sports journalism which would be a real positive.

“I am certain that when the pupils went home, every single one of them told their parents exactly what they did at school, which as most parents will tell you, is very rarely the case!”

The 20 Literacy Kicks sessions at primary schools across Liverpool are led by former sports journalist, Gareth Walker, who founded the award-winning programme.

Gareth explained: “Literacy Kicks uses sport to engage children in writing, and working alongside the World Boxing Championships in schools in Liverpool has been a fantastic experience. The strong links between the sport and the city has been apparent in each of the schools we have worked with so far, and pupils have relished the opportunity to create their own newspaper articles on the subject.

“To be joined in class by a boxing icon like Natasha Jonas at Our Lady’s Bishop Eton added another dimension. It really enhanced the session and illustrated the way in which we can use the power of sport to inspire young people and spark their interest in different aspect of education and personal development.”

The Social Impact Programme  aims to benefit tens of thousands of people in schools, communities and boxing clubs across the Liverpool City Region and will be overseen by England Boxing and are supported by the purpose-led independent law firm, Brabners who are a partner of the event.

Liverpool has a long history of staging major international events and was selected as the host of the inaugural World Boxing Championships following a successful bid that was developed by a group of partners which comprised England Boxing, GB Boxing, Liverpool City Council and the M&S Bank Arena, with the support of the National Lottery and UK Sport. Event partners are Sting, Nike Boxing, Brabners, the Liverpool Bid Company and Visit Liverpool.