Last weekend’s home game against QPR saw the Trust welcome Secondary School Provision student Charlie Hurst to Deepdale as mascot for the day!
Charlie has special educational needs and was mascot as part of our Level Playing Field matchday, which celebrates access and inclusion for disabled sports fans.
He studies with the Community and Education Trust during the week on the Secondary School Provision programme, targeting year 10 and 11 students who are disengaged with studies or perhaps suffering from low confidence or self-esteem.
The programme provides an alternative, sporting setting where pupils can work towards gaining their qualifications, either under the Progress Eight qualification measures or otherwise.
Charlie was lucky enough to walk out with his favourite player Declan Rudd as the teams took to the pitch and the 13-year-old admitted that it was fantastic day for him and his family.
“I started off not really doing anything football-wise, then started to come to the Community and Education Trust [in the week as a student].
“This was my third match, one was almost six years ago for a friendly, it’s quite cool that my third game is as a mascot.”
“It’s actually a lot different [on a matchday] because I didn’t think there was as much [going on] in the stadium as there actually is. When you come in, you actually notice how big it is and it’s a really nice stadium.
“This is going to help out quite a lot knowing that you can be rewarded like this, which means I’m going to try my best to get even more qualifications.”
The Trust launched the Secondary School Provision programme in September 2019 and
To find out more about the Secondary School Provision programme please contact Secondary Education Tutor Jake Blackburn on jakeblackburn@pne.com. Alternatively, please click here.