Sheffield schoolchildren help design special edition football boots for Manchester United's Marcus Rashford to highlight poverty message

Brunswick Community Primary School pupils have worked on special edition Nike football boots that Marcus Rashford will be wearing for the month of October. Teacher Mr Howe with pupils Year 5, 4 and 6.

Brunswick Primary School, in Woodhouse, is one of only three schools in the UK to be handpicked by the Manchester United forward to work directly with Nike on the new-look Mercurial boots which feature handwritten messages of hope and gratitude.

The words are all responses given by pupils to the phrase 'I am the future of...' and were debuted by Rashford – who was awarded an MBE for his inspirational campaign to secure free meals for disadvantaged children in the school holidays – during England’s Nations League clash against Belgium on October 11.

Year 5 teacher Charlie Howe said 13 out of 15 contributions from Brunswick School pupils were chosen as part of the ‘Marcus Rashford Boot Project'.

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He said: “I’m massively proud – to say that only three schools were chosen, one of which he went to as a child, is a massive thing especially as his campaign has directly impacted a lot of children at this school and in the community.

“The reaction has been really cool, even the children that weren’t involved in the project were really proud and pleased that our school got chosen.

"The ones that were involved were really excited and were searching for their word on the boot. The reaction from the parents has been great as well.”

Brunswick School was brought to the attention of Marcus Rashford as a result of a project on inspirational people which the children of key workers took part in during lockdown.

The football star was highlighted by the pupils for his recent campaign work and, after messaging him on social media, the school was shocked to receive an email from his management team asking them to contribute to the boot design.

Words such as ‘a generation’, ‘the three lions’, and ‘England football’ were among the contributions from Brunswick pupils.

Rashford will wear the boots throughout October before donating each pair to causes who support his fight against child poverty, including FareShare and the Trussell Trust.

Pupils from his former primary school, Button Lane in Wythenshawe, along with those from Passmores Academy in Harlow, were also involved in the project.

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