Watford FC stars have joined school pupils to celebrate their completion of the Premier League Inspires programme.

The scheme brought together youngsters from four secondary schools, honouring their hard work and resilience shown over the term.

Run by Watford FC's Community Sport and Education Trust, the programme enlisted pupils from Bushey Meads, Parmiters, The Reach Free, and Rickmansworth schools.

The celebration took place at Vicarage Road Stadium where children continued their learning with public speaking and debating workshops.

They also looked at how they could transform their own challenges into success stories.

This was supported by the organisation Loudspeaker, leading into a stadium tour, and a much-anticipated meeting with players Giorgi Chakvetadze and Mileta Rajovic.

The students got a chance to put their newfound skills to the test by interviewing the players, followed by photo opportunities.

Jessica Doran, the Trust’s youth engagement officer, said: "We are really proud of all our PL Inspires students from this term and hope they can take the skills they learnt from the sessions forward into the future.

"The celebration event was great fun, and well deserved by all the pupils that attended.”

The Premier League Inspires scheme is designed to help participants develop personal, social, and employability skills.

It offers regular face-to-face group sessions, mentoring, workshops and social-action projects.

The aim is to aid students in their current needs and future plans.

The programme is funded by the Premier League and the Professional Footballer’s Association (PFA), as well as support from the TJX Foundation for local delivery by the Trust.

Post-event feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive.

One said: "Overall a truly inspiring day and I know all of the students left the event with memories they will cherish."

Another teacher added:  "Thank you so much for today, I delivered very excited students back to school.

"I asked the pupils when we returned to give me words to express how they felt today was, the words they used were; Passion, Given a Vision, Fun, Entertaining, and Rememberable."

For additional details on Premier League Inspires, visit watfordfccsetrust.com/project/premier-league-inspires.