Pupils net some valuable mental health support from Blackpool FC's Community Trust

Through the Government’s Opportunity Areas (OA) programme, the club is working with pupils aged 11 to 19 who are disadvantaged, vulnerable or at risk of dropping out of education and not looking for employment or training.

Since launching last month, six resort secondary schools such as Aspire and Unity have teamed up with the club’s trust.

Selina Hayes is the head of education and employability at the Bloomfield Road community trust and said the programme has has been a "long-term ambition".

She said: "The impact of the programme is massive. We’ve had an ambition for going on seven years now to have a staff member based in every high school in Blackpool.

"The OA programme has enabled us to do that by getting someone in each high school for two days a week and that is supporting young people around things like mental health and resilience.

"It also benefits the schools themselves as they are getting that extra support who can signpost people who might might need that further support for whatever reason that might be."

The funding has allowed two more ‘high school hub officers’ to be employed by the trust – taking its team to five.

Selina said 20-week programmes are also being offered and that it’s aiming to complete one-to-ones with 32 pupils each term. It already has 20 referrals.

The club is also providing online training to two mentors at Fleetwood Town FC as well as sharing resources to help them identify and support around 75 pupils at Fleetwood High School.

Michelle Donelan, minister for the Opportunity Areas, said the programme is focusing on those who are the most hardest hit "so they are ready to catch up on lost learning and do not fall behind".

During lockdown, mentoring is happening face-to-face or online so teens are still able to get the help they may need.

More than £90 million has been invested in the OA programme over four years.

The trust received a share of £1 million specifically to support ‘twinning’ work and expand the programme’s reach with Fleetwood Town FC. Blackpool Opportunity Area has invested £100,000 into the football club projects.