Northampton Town FC

The Northampton Town FC Campus gives boys and girls a unique opportunity to combine a high-quality education with exclusive access to the only professional football club in Northamptonshire.

Learners complete a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Sports Coaching and Development, delivered by tutors that have experience of working in different areas of the professional football club.

In addition to the education, the players work with UEFA qualified coaches, including a UEFA Pro Licence holder. There are lots of opportunities to develop and for players that excel to an exceptional level, there are pathways into both the male and female youth and first teams. This has seen players like Scott Pollock, Ethan Johnston, Isobel McDonald and Chloe Martin follow this well-trodden route. A lot of our players also progress to higher levels of the non-league semi-professional pyramid.

In addition, the programme allows players to develop their knowledge of other areas of professional football by offering exclusive opportunities for 16–19-year-olds to access work experience in a variety of roles within a professional football club, such as coaching, analysis, sports science and media.

There are a variety of pathways that former learners have followed, including University in the UK, Scholarships in America and careers in the sport and leisure industry.

We feel that the programme helps to prepare players for moving into different pathways by creating a very different atmosphere to school or college, where it is much more like a workplace, and helps players with their transition from school to adult environments.