Aston Villa ace Luke Moore is to give £10,000 he won from a national newspaper for scoring against Chelsea to his former school.
The cash prize, put up by The Sun to donate to charity, was aimed at encouraging a Premiership player to breach the London club's defence.
On Saturday, 19-year-old ex-Hodge Hill pupil Moore became the first player to score against Chelsea this season.
His former class tutor Julie Higgins contacted his mother the same evening to ask if the teenager would support the school's bid for specialist sports status.
Teachers need to raise £50,000 in sponsorship to unlock hundreds of thousands of pounds of Government funding. Assistant head Tom Ashley said: "We put in the bid in November and so far have £35,000."
