Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School (Stourbridge) were incredibly excited to welcome Real Madrid and England footballer Jude Bellingham back to his home town of Stourbridge on Wednesday 13^th September.

A group of children from St Joseph’s were invited by McDonald’s Fun Football UK initiative to attend an afternoon football session at Lea Vale playing fields and were surprised and awestruck at the arrival of  ‘special guest’ Jude Bellingham.

Mr Wilkes, Principal of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, explained that St Joseph’s has a long and successful history of being committed to children’s physical activity and school sport which was recognised in July 2023 by the school being awarded the School Games Mark Platinum Award.  He commented  “It was a very proud moment to welcome Jude Bellingham to St Joseph’s, Stourbridge yesterday to meet our children. Despite his high profile, Jude was happy to join in the session with our children and interact with other members of our school community. He can be rightly proud of his achievements as a footballer but also as a kind, humble and generous person, many of the values that we promote in our children at St Joseph’s. The children were thrilled to meet and play football with Jude and were inspired by his journey from Stourbridge local boy to professional footballer. We would be delighted to welcome Jude back to visit us in the future to share his achievements with us.”

St Joseph’s, Stourbridge, look forward to welcoming prospective new families to our Open Morning on Wednesday 4^th October at 9:30am –11:00am. All families with a child due to start school in September 2024 are welcome to attend and hear about the brilliant educational experiences on offer at St Joseph’s.