WORLD Cup winner Jason Leonard visited Heston Community School this week to celebrate its achievement in integrating rugby into its weekly sporting programme. 

Heston is walking proof that rugby really does have the ability to make a difference and change lives, with it being one of 100 schools to graduate from CBRE All Schools — a programme run by England Rugby which aims to get more than one million school children actively involved in rugby by 2019.

Schoolboy Hanza Janjua, 13, who attends Heston Community School, struggled with the transition to secondary education as a year seven, but through his participation in the CBRE All Schools programme, has flourished both in and out of the classroom, and is loving his new hobby.

CBRE All Schools, which was established in 2012 by the RFU, aims to create a legacy by introducing the sport to state secondary schools up and down the country who traditionally don’t teach rugby as part of their curriculum.

RFU President, Jason Leonard, said: “CBRE All School programme is an important legacy strand for the RFU in sustaining growth of the game.

“For Heston and the 99 other CBRE All Schools graduating from the programme, they should be immensely proud of what they have achieved over the past three years. I’m privileged to be part of the graduation celebrations today.”

On Tuesday, Heston welcomed RFU President Leonard OBE, who watched Hanza, alongside classmates Nicoleta Pudai, Gurjeevan Ponaich and Oscar McGill, take part in a training session, before presenting a graduation plaque to head teacher Phil Ward and PE teacher Stuart Howkins to recognise their success in embedding rugby within the school.

And for year eight pupil Hanza, his involvement in the initiative has introduced a new passion for rugby and boosted his enjoyment of his high school years.  

“The CBRE All Schools programme has introduced a whole new sport to me,” he said. “I really love the fact that every time I play, I get to make friends with new people.

“When I started at this school in year seven, I was quite scared of everybody and I didn’t want to play rugby.

“But when I started getting into it and our teacher taught us how to play properly, I really enjoyed it and I don’t fear any of the other players anymore.

“Rugby has really helped to build up my confidence, and I really enjoy playing as part of a team too.

“I didn’t really know who Jason Leonard was before today, but it has been really amazing for us to meet him and learn about his great career. He’s made rugby a really good sport for us.”

During the 2014/2015 season more than 130,000 students experienced rugby with 20,000 of those going on to became regular participants through involvement with the programme.

In addition, there were 5,680 competitive matches organised between schools in the programme, with more than 3,500 teachers and young leaders taking rugby related courses.

Heston has seen an impressive growth in the number of pupils taking up the sport both in and out of school, and have seen improvements in students’ behaviour and attentiveness inside the classroom.

And for Leonard, a Rugby World Cup winner and England’s most capped player, the school’s success exemplifies the impact the sport can have on its participants.

“The CBRE programme is designed to go into state schools that have never played rugby before and get the boys and girls playing the sport, and hopefully, getting more involved in it and finding out what a great sport it is,” he said.

“It has fantastic values of teamwork, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship, and so the children can go and play a great sport and make friends at the same time.

“At the moment, we’re up to about 400 schools introducing rugby to their curriculum, and we want another 750 by the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

“That will be more than one million boys and girls playing rugby that have never played the sport before, so it’s a great programme to be involved in.

“We just want to make sure no one is denied the opportunity to take part and play in a great team sport like rugby.

“There are some good little players here today, and there might be another Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson, and Maggie Alphonsi or, who knows, another Jason Leonard among them.”

England Rugby’s CBRE All Schools is a nationwide programme designed to create a sustained celebration of rugby and a lasting legacy for school children, schools and communities. By 2019 CBRE All Schools aims to reach one million children who don’t currently play rugby.