Learners Engage at Oldham Athletic Football Club

An innovative new project in Oldham provides young people in the area with an alternative to mainstream school or college by enabling students at risk of underachieving to access their education online. The scheme has been developed as a partnership between leading online learning provider, the Nisai Virtual Academy (NVA), Oldham Athletic Football Club and Oldham Council.

The partnership enables students who are experiencing difficulties in attending school or college to use the state of the art facilities available at Oldham AFC’s Laticzone (so called because of the club’s nickname, The Latics) to participate in live, interactive online lessons with fully qualified subject specialist teachers from the Nisai Virtual Academy. The Nisai Virtual Academy is the UK’s leading provider of online learning and provides access to education to a wide range of young people who are unable to attend school or college due to reasons such as illness or behaviour.

"Nisai was recommended to me by a colleague working for Oldham Council", said Suzy Chapman, Study Support Manager at the Laticzone.

"The NVA provides young people with an opportunity to access learning in a flexible way. Not all young people enjoy or engage at school, however it is still extremely important that they work towards their qualifications and Nisai provides another way for them to be able to do this".

Young people logging into the NVA from the Laticzone join other students from around the country online to participate in live, interactive and engaging lessons, communicating with Nisai teachers and their classmates using a microphone headset. These students initially began studying towards Key Skills qualifications, receiving a timetable of live lessons which they access at the centre. Students have engaged well and made good progress, with some being moved into more advanced GCSE classes.

"Our students enjoy working in this way and most have been asking to study more subjects", continued Suzy, "They like the independence of the service".

"We are delighted to be working with the Laticzone at Oldham", commented Preya Dattani, Operations Manager at the NVA

“The students are engaging and making good progress and we hope to build on the strong relationship we have developed with the staff at the centre to offer long term support for students in the area".