“She is so much more than your average headteacher.” Just one of the many descriptions given to Louisa Craig by those who know her best, and even then, that doesn’t really do her justice.
Louisa, or Miss Craig to the staff and students at Our Lady & St Chad Catholic Academy in Fallings Park, is a Wolves season ticket holder whose enthusiasm and passion for sport and wanting to help young people make the very most out of their talents, is infectious.
“Everything about Louisa is completely student focused and about the impact which can be delivered to the students,” says Paul Taylor, Assistant Principal at OLSC.
“Whether that is supporting them with difficulties they may have in their lives, or investing in high quality sport and PE, everything is in place for them to enjoy the best possible outcomes; whether when leaving Year11 or Year 13, or working with the transition from primary schools.
“She is absolutely relentless in her pursuit of ensuring that students get to where they are destined to be and achieve their very, very best.”
“Louisa is one of the most passionate headteachers I have ever met,” adds Helen Bourton, PASS (Partnerships and School Sport) Manager for Wolverhampton.
“She really, really cares, not just about her own school community but every child in the city and the families that she works with.
“Her aim and vision is to make sure that every child in the city wherever possible, would have an offer of good quality physical education and school sport.
“She has made sure that the focus, ethos and culture of moving more, being sociable and what sport can offer you both emotionally as well as physically, is at the heart of every school in the area.
“Every school in the city responds well to her work and her belief and her drive.”
That is an illustration of why Louisa’s substantial impact is not confined only to the incredible 27 years she has spent at OLSC.
As Chair of the PE and Schools Sport Physical Activity group for the city, she works with all schools across Wolverhampton, from nursery level right through to secondary.
And the extent of that impact and her selfless personality makes her the perfect recipient of this year’s Community Captain award, presented by Wolves Foundation as part of the Premier League’s More Than A Game campaign which has been highlighted over the first two weeks of February.
“Community Captains are the unsung heroes and people who go above and beyond the call of duty to benefit the lives of others, demonstrating that football is so much more than a game," explains Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters.
Louisa certainly fits that criteria.
In addition to that drive to encourage more young people to play sport both at school and in their own time, she has been a major advocate of Wolves Foundation and Premier League projects for many years.
It was following the London Olympics of 2012 that Louisa first became involved with Wolves’ official charity.
Via the Premier League for Sport initiative, she instigated joint working in delivering different sports at OLSC including handball, basketball and judo, in which she is particularly proficient, including winning the Scottish Senior Championships in 1995.
The Foundation now run the Premier League Inspires programme at the academy, which uses the power of football to inspire children and young people to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes to help prepare for further education and employment. This has also led to OLSC becoming part of the Foundation’s Football & Education Sixth Form Academy, offering a BTEC qualification in sport alongside A-levels.
Louisa has also pushed for additional sessions to support staff wellbeing, including in first aid and around mental health, cementing the relationship between academy and Foundation.
“It is so easy as a member of staff, because if we ever want to do something that we think is going to be good for the students, if Louisa agrees that it is going to be beneficial, then we always get her full support,” adds Paul.
“It is great to be able to work in that environment.”
With the decision made by the Foundation to make Louisa the Community Captain for 2025, several weeks of meticulous planning was required to spring the surprise. Which wasn’t easy.
For such an energetic presence, making sure she was ‘in the right place at the right time’ was a challenge for Paul and other OLSC staff. But that is exactly what they did.
And so, whilst Louisa started an interview thinking she had just been asked to talk about Premier League Inspires, Foundation ambassador and former Wolves’ Championship-winning captain Karl Henry moved quietly into the room and onto her shoulder, in stark contrast to how he used to patrol the Molineux engine room!
Initially Louisa carried on talking, professional to the end, until Karl interrupted to break the news that she had been crowned Community Captain. Which prompted an emotional response.
“I am speechless, probably for the first time in my life,” she reflected afterwards.
“I was under the impression I was attending a Premier League Inspires session and was being asked a couple of questions about the project by the Foundation team.
“Just as I started, I heard a voice that I recognised, because, as a Wolves Season Ticket Holder I used to watch Karl play, week-in week-out.
“And then, well. What a complete and utter surprise to receive the Community Captain award - I am shocked and blown away to be honest.”
For Karl, born and brought up not so far away from OLSC in Ashmore Park, and a former pupil of Coppice Performing Arts School, it was a ‘privilege’ to be able to present the award.
Well aware of the power and influence teachers can have on young people, he namechecked two who played a key role in his own upbringing, Mrs Aldridge from his Primary School and Mr Griffin from Coppice.
“Teachers have a huge responsibility and so many have such a positive impact on their pupils,” said Karl.
“Seeing all the staff and children here when I arrived, and how excited they all were for Miss Craig, there is clearly a very strong sense of community and pride in what the school is doing.
“Miss Craig is at the forefront of that, to have spent 27 years here is incredible and she is hugely appreciated and respected.
“She is clearly doing a brilliant job and has had such a massive impact on young people in the community for so many years.
“I always think this is a sector where so much relentless work is happening both in and out of school time, and so much of that goes unnoticed.
“It is clear that Miss Craig doesn’t do it for any personal recognition, but equally, it is important that people like her are celebrated, and to receive this accolade from Wolves Foundation and the Premier League must be a huge honour.”
Indeed, it is the students more so than any personal recognition which will always remain Louisa’s main focus.
For Tamando, one of those who has benefitted from the Foundation’s work with the Football & Education Academy, the support of the principal has been paramount.
“Miss Craig has so much involvement in what we do, and has helped bring us so many opportunities,” he says.
“Whatever we do we have her full support, and usually when we are playing matches, we can hear her on the sidelines, cheering and commanding!
“She gives us feedback, talking to us but also listening and asking what sort of things we’d like to see.
“That support really helps with the morale of the team.”
For the lady herself, the motivation of sport, and the link-up with the Foundation and access to Premier League projects, continues to drive her forward.
“I feel really fortunate that we have such an amazing partnership with Wolves Foundation, and the work that they deliver across the city is really inspiring,” she explains.
“Across Premier League Inspires and the post-16 academy programme, the partnership with the coaching and mentoring is so important, and is really changing the lives of young people and helping them on their next steps in education.
“Our mission statement at Our Lady & St Chad Catholic Academy is that together, we will emulate the love of Christ and become the people that God created us to be.
“This partnership is really giving the young people that opportunity to find those gifts and talents.
“I am a really humble person who prefers to do things for other people, but to be named the Community Captain makes me feel very honoured and privileged.
“It is truly great that people recognise this work, but it is the difference for the young people day-in day-out that is the most important, and I cannot thank the Wolves Foundation enough.”
Within 24 hours of being rendered speechless by the surprise, for which she received a special shirt, armband and ‘Player of the Match’ style award, Louisa was a guest at Molineux for the big local derby with Aston Villa and was officially presented with her accolade once again by Head Coach Vitor Pereira.
She also met the Mayor of West Midlands, Richard Parker, local MPs Warinder Juss and Sureena Brackenridge, and Clare Sumner, Chief Policy and Corporate Affairs Officer with the Premier League.
And then, as a dedicated Wolves fan, Louisa was able to thoroughly enjoy the subsequent 2-0 victory.
If Community Captains did the perfect weekend, eh?!
