A NEW scheme is running in Bolton schools which uses the public obsession with football to teach a variety of subjects.

The Family Scheme, run by the Football in the Community team at Bolton Wanderers and funded by the Children's Fund, is being brought to children and members of their families in 11 schools across the borough.

It is meant to trigger greater interest on a range of issues and subjects in school, build stronger family relationships and bring parents into school so they take a greater interest in their child's education.

Football is also used to teach children maths and to help adults brush up on their writing skills. Adults can work towards a sports qualification and are taught how to coach youngsters so they can start community football teams.

Everyone who attends gets taught about healthy lifestyles and gets an academic homework assignment each week -- all based around football.

The project is targeted at parents who have been long-term unemployed and those who have few or no qualifications. It is hoped the course will encourage some of them to go into further education. However, parents who are employed are also welcome to attend.

Schools that have run the scheme have reported increased attendance figures and closer links with parents. There has also been a new zest for homework when it involved a subject the children were fascinated with.

Paul Maloney, senior assistant community officer at Football in the Community, said: "We sat down and had a look at children at schools and we thought there were certain things that were missing. Parents were not attending schools. Some parents weren't even dropping their kids off at school. We wanted to bring parents back in, provide sporting opportunities for parents and their children, and encourage healthly lifestyles."

The Family Scheme is believed to be the only project of its type in the country. It was piloted in Johnson Fold CP School in June, has been featured in a Korean TV documentary about football and been visited by the Shadow Minister for Young People, Charles Hendry.

It is run as a six-week course and children can bring along an adult or a teenager over 16. Each session begins with one hour's theory for the adults, which is then followed by an hour's football practice with the adults and their children.

Over the weeks adults learn about health and fitness, attitudes and ethics through football. They look at the right diet and food that a footballer would live on and through that learn about healthy lifestyles.

Parents are taught life skills through guidance on coaching. It is hoped coaching skills will improve their interaction with youngsters. Fifteen adults, four of them women, are now working towards a footballing qualification.

Guidance is available for them to go on to a Coaching Education Course. They are also taught about child protection issues so they can go on to run community teams.

Mr Maloney said a number of parents who came on the courses had basic reading and writing skills and the scheme was a chance to improve them in an interesting way. Over the course adults were asked to do homework which included writing a report of a football match and writing up the "fair play" that had gone on in the match.

Mr Maloney said: "This is a chance for people who have been long-term unemployed to achieve something. It's a way of using time productively and to get people off their sofas.

"We eventually get parents coaching the kids themselves towards the end of the course and that really boosts their confidence."

Children work towards Key Stage 2 and 3 in the scheme. Through using football in an imaginative way, children are taught traditionally "unpopular" aspects of maths such as fractions, angles, grids, bar charts and graphs.

Children may be asked to shade in two-thirds of a football shirt to help them learn how to do fractions. Or they may be asked to compile bar charts based on goals scored in matches.

Mr Maloney said: "I can't believe the enthusiasm we got for homework from the kids. Parents were coming up telling me they had never seen them so keen."

Paul Smith, headteacher of Johnson Fold school, said the scheme had improved attendance. "It was a big boost for the parents. It gave them a lot of self esteem and it was a nice to see parents in school. There have been all sorts of spin-offs," he said.

Eric Brindle, headteacher of Cherry Tree School in Farnworth, where the course has now been running for a few weeks, said: "It is excellent, superb for the children and the adults. One of the parents has already offered to come in and help with the school about setting up our own team and they are looking into further training ideas."

Parents who attend the scheme at Oxford Grove CP School, Halliwell, agreed the scheme was having a positive effect on youngsters. Many said their children were much more keen to come to school and they had learned a lot more.

Tracy Taylor, who attends the scheme with her son Corey, aged seven, said: "Playing football is new to me but it has been really great doing it with Corey. He's been really excited about coming into school because of the scheme. I think it's giving him a lot of confidence."