Joshua full of praise for Stags education scheme

Joshua Warren spent a year at a local college prior to joining the education pathway, making the switch after finding college life difficult, and feeling like his personal development was taking a backward step.

Joshua, who is in year 13, said: “I’ve always struggled with my confidence and at school I always had the one-to-one support.

“As soon as I went to college it was the exact opposite, but having one-to-one support again here has brought me back up”

Elizabeth Regan, education officer at Football in the Community, said, “He had a really good background in sport but he wasn’t pushing himself to the best of his ability – he was achieving pass/merit level within his work and over the time he’s been with us, he’s progressed on to predominantly distinction grades.”

Mansfield Town will be changing the education programme in the next academic year, running one of the country’s newest BTEC courses and switching to an 11-a-side games programme.

However the core values will remain the same, something Joshua believes will continue to make a massive difference.

He continued: “I would recommend studying here to anyone because you get to learn and play/train which really takes the stress off of the work that you’re doing – it helps you to focus and gives you something to work for and complete it to the best of your abilities.

“Meeting new people was a worry for me at first but I’m really glad I took the step, meeting people who have had similar journeys to me and watching them grow is nice to see – being able to enjoy something that you loved as a kid every day is a really good experience”

From September, Football in the Community students will enroll on the BTEC level three diploma or extended diploma in sports coaching and development and play weekly matches in the newly developed CEFA League, run by the EFL Trust – with students of all footballing experience and ability level welcome.