Alumni Stories

Two England Captains. One School.

There's a detail about this school that still doesn't quite feel real, even to us.

Sir David Beckham and Harry Kane both sat in these classrooms. Both walked these corridors. Both played for the same Sunday league team, Ridgeway Rovers, years apart, without ever meeting as students. Both went on to captain England at a World Cup. No other school in the country can say that.

Harry has spoken about what David's example meant to him growing up:

"It gave me that extra belief that I could go on and achieve the same."

Harry's former PE teacher, Mark Leadon, taught him for five years. He remembers a quietly gifted, hardworking student, never a ball hog, never any trouble, the kind of player teachers don't always notice is special until much later.

That's really what this story is about. Not two footballers. Two ordinary students, in an ordinary school, who were given the room to find out how far they could go.

Still Being Written

This tournament, ahead of England's quarter-final in Miami, Harry presented David with his England legacy cap, marking 115 international appearances. He called him "a big role model, a big inspiration."

Image credit: England Football / The FA

Two Chingford boys, still lifting each other up, years later.

And the story isn't only historical. Right now, current CFS students are playing football at England youth level and training at academies including Arsenal and Chelsea, walking a path that looks, in its early years, exactly like Harry and David's once did.

As Featured In

This story found its own audience in 2026, entirely without being pitched:

• BBC News
• BBC London
• BBC Radio London
• The Times
• The Sun
• ITV News London
• DR (Danish national broadcaster)

Danish broadcaster DR travelled to Chingford Foundation School to see where Harry's story began, speaking with staff and students about what he means to them.

//www.youtube.com/embed/VPnR6auF-Ik#t=0.5

Why We Tell It

We don't share this story to claim credit for what Harry and David have gone on to achieve. That belongs entirely to them.

But we do think it says something true about this place: that an ordinary school, in an ordinary corner of London, can quietly give students the space to become extraordinary. It's the same space, the same encouragement, and the same standards we hold for every student who walks through our doors today.