For far too long, we have talked of football portraying the worst excesses of financial greed, celebrity, and globalised marketing. But something was different about this year: where I was sitting, Russia 2018 had much to appreciate, celebrate and enjoy - to the point that football even presented this country in a positive light to itself.

So now that the World Cup is all done and dusted, what lessons should we encourage our pupils to take from this football fiesta in September?

1. We shouldn’t believe the hype around failure. Let us not forget that prior to the World Cup, we were all led to believe it would be an unmitigated disaster for England: poorly organised and likely to be ill-disciplined. Wrong.

2. Being an underdog is okay. In every school, children create a hierarchy and not all can be in the ‘in’ crowd. The England team showed us that everyone can aspire to be at their top, but with the right approach and application.

3. Internationalism is far more energising than the bigoted views too often expressed in the Brexit debate. Encourage your pupils to become excited about the idea of being Columbian, Japanese or even French.

4. Being nice, honest, gracious, supportive, hardworking and loyal is nothing to be ashamed of, especially in a world full of negative role models.

5. Why not spend a little time discussing how we can overcome adversity if we put our mind to it? We can overcome our own penalty shootout and come out on top.

6. We should recognise that some of the England players openly and candidly talked about their mental health. Top-earning professionals who seem a million miles from our pupils were honest about that life can prove difficult for them as well. This is something to discuss and applaud.

7. We can also recognise that you can lose positively, graciously and with dignity

8. You can also win graciously: just look at how Gareth Southgate commiserated with the Columbian players. 

And one last thought...

We should all install VAR in every school: it could be brilliant. Playground disputes would become a thing of the past: no need now for classroom observations. Parents’ evenings totally changed when teachers referred back to VAR. 

Anyway, it’s four years until the next World Cup, so in the meantime: Play up, Pompey! (That’s Portsmouth Football Club to the uninitiated.)

Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were ‘outstanding’ across all categories

To read more of Colin’s articles, visit his back catalogue