Blackburn Rovers Official Partner

The special partnership between Moorland School and Blackburn Rovers has become extremely strong and both the Club and the School have developed a unique relationship.

Moorland School is fast developing an international reputation for helping to nurture first-class footballing talent, with a number of boys going through the school whilst progressing through Rovers’ Youth ranks. Consequently, players receive the very best education, in class sizes of 14-15 students (on average), delivered by a young and dynamic teaching team.

The development of our new BTEC Level 3 programme offers us the ability to be able to attract talented footballers up to the age of 18 and also allow a natural transition for our Football Academy graduates once they complete their GCSE’s. The addition of the ‘Shadow Squad’ allows players to share facilities and Coaches with signed players making the opportunity of being professionally selected more likely than ever.

The importance of having such quality educational provision, together with excellent pastoral support, cannot be underestimated when it comes to young students who have day release or reduced contact time with teachers. Moorland’s unique approach, along with the unrivalled liaison between Club and School, means that the loss of contact time in the classroom is negated.

During the 2017/18 academic year alone, we currently have ten signed boys who are feeling the benefits of the unique relationship between Moorland and the Academy. Indeed, it is also enabling boys who are enrolled at Moorland School to seamlessly fit into life at Brockhall should they be successful at club trials. Jay Haddow of Year 9, has only been boarding with us since his arrival from Hong Kong in September 2016. Jay secured a trial with Rovers and subsequently won a contract with the Club. The partnership has made the transition for Jay as smooth as possible, and Jay is now a regular starter and key player for the BRFC U15 & U16 sides.

This early success has been built on our past results. As recently as the Summer of 2015, Moorland School helped produce footballers of the future for BRFC. Stefan Mols, Joe Grayson and Alex Curran graduated through Moorland School’s Football Academy. They then went straight into signing a two-year scholarship as U18’s with Rovers’ Academy. Furthermore, the boys reached their academic potential with excellent GCSE results in the same year.  Last year, we were thrilled when we learned that Joe and Stefan were rewarded with their first professional contracts with the Club and are now part of Tony Mowbray’s first team squad.

The partnership is very much about each side supporting the others needs in the development of young people reaching their full potential and beyond.

Neil Chadwick

Head of Education, Blackburn Rovers F.C.

These are extremely exciting times for all at Moorland School and Blackburn Rovers Academy. The promising results so far are underpinning an optimism for the future.

Moorland’s strong academic tradition has been highly valuable to Blackburn Rovers FC, who are a CAT 1 Academy with the highest of expectations.

Our partnership with Moorland has enabled us to develop a first-class education programme linked with a first-class football programme for pre-18 players.

Stuart Jones

Academy Manager, Blackburn Rovers F.C.

The future promises to bring further success through even closer links between Moorland and BRFC. This will include more opportunities for Moorland students at the Academy, together with increased shared practice and facilities. We are also currently promoting our truly unique post 16 BTEC Level 3 in Sports programme. This will allow us to offer the experience to students up to the age of 18.

‘Combining Education with Football Excellence’

The Manchester City Connection

Moorland School is proud home to the East Lancashire Manchester City FC Development Centre.  This is due to Charlie Jackson being a key component of the City Academy structure, and his full-time status at Moorland.

The Development Centre is now in its eighth season at Moorland, and acts as the perfect platform for local talent identified by the City scouting team.  Naturally, a number of these boys over the years have been Moorland School students and have achieved Academy contracts through their hard work and endeavour.

Coach Jackson is very proud of this link, commenting: “I am very proud to be part of the City Academy setup and to oversee the link between Moorland and City.  Having been at Moorland for 16 years, it is a tremendous honour for me to be able to connect my time at the School and my role at Man City in this way.  We continue to develop the players we work with and to bring them to the attention of the Academy coaches at The Eitihad Campus.”

Furthermore, the Moorland Football Academy also boasts two other coaches who work as part of the Manchester City FC Development Centre at the School, namely Danny Morton & Giulio Romano.  Danny works with the young players in terms of developing their skills and tactical awareness, whilst Giulio works wonders and tirelessly with the pool of goalkeeping talent.

We are delighted Charlie decided to join us at Man City having coached for many years at the very highest level in Academy Football.

Trevor Todd

Academy Manager, Manchester City F.C.

Gregor is a first-year student on the Moorland School (Blackburn Rovers FC Shadow Squad) studying towards completing the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport Qualification.

During the 2016-17 season Gregor was selected to trial at Blackburn Rovers FC Category 1 Academy. As a result, Gregor undertook professional training and participated in regular matches as part of the 6-week trial period. Upon completion of the 6-week trial, Gregor was not offered a youth contract but was provided with positive feedback. Gregor signed up to our shadow squad for the 2017-18 academic year and has since also had trials at other professional football league clubs following his development with us.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year of the programme. It has allowed me to continue with my academic progress within sport but also my football development via the first-class coaching and facilities that we have access to at Blackburn Rovers FC Academy on a regular basis. I am looking forward to progressing onto the second year of the programme in September 2018.”

Gregor Sword

Daniel is a second-year student and completed the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport Qualification in the 2017-18 academic year.

Daniel has achieved high attainment levels and reached his overall value-added score of D*D*D As a result, Daniel has been accepted into Loughborough University to complete an honors degree in sports science from the 2018-19 academic year.

“I have been studying at Moorland School on the BTEC Sport programme for the past two years and have enjoyed the opportunity to combine my studies with additional football opportunities. I am coming to the end of the course and have been accepted into a number of universities to study sports science at degree level. I appreciate the support and help the tutors at school have given me over the course programme.”

Daniel Scott

Kyle is a second-year student who completed the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport Qualification in the 2017-18 academic year.

Kyle is looking to progress into the area of sports physiotherapy. As a result, Kyle has sourced some work experience to allow him to have a hands on opportunity to develop his levels of knowledge and understanding with the area. As a result, Kyle is due to undertake additional A Levels in September 2018 along with additional work experience at Blackburn Rovers FC Academy where he will be shadowing their physiotherapy department.

“This course has allowed me to undertake further education in an area that I would like to go into post completion. I have found that the experiences of studying at both the school and Blackburn Rovers FC Academy have helped me develop my knowledge and understanding of what is required to progress into such a field of employment. I am looking forward to completing the course in the summer of 2018 and using the opportunity to broaden my knowledge and experience by undertaking additional A Levels whilst gaining work experience as a trainee physio at the football club.”

Kyle Oliver-Davies

Moorland Football News