Ladies Elite Education Programme

The Arsenal Ladies FC Elite Education Programme has taken on the role previously played by the Arsenal Ladies Academy and offers young elite players an opportunity to combine football training and academic studies on a day to day basis. The format and organisation of the programme have been changed and this will start to take full effect as from September 2011.

The Elite Education Programme provides players with an opportunity to study at a further education college whilst having the opportunity to train and play as part of Arsenal Ladies FC.

The education courses are offered through Oaklands College, Smallford campus, St Albans, Hertfordshire. They offer a wide range of courses with our main courses being BTEC National Diplomas in Sports Science or Sports Coaching and Development. The students can do a course which is equivalent to 2 A levels or an extended course which is equivalent to 3 A levels. The minimum requirement for these courses is 5 GCSE's grade A-C and a A-C in Maths, English or Science. If you don't have this level of grades we can also offer you BTEC First Dipolmas in Sport. If a student wants to study A levels we will consult with them on a individual basis but cannot guarantee specific courses.

We have external links with University of Hertfordshire that is 5 minutes away from Oaklands College and we look to help support and guide players into higher education if this is the pathway they would like to take.

The playing pathways in womens football have taken new directions in the last six months, with the introduction of the FA Women's Super League and also the age categories for the Girls Centre of Excellence being extended from U9s through to U17s. With these changes happening we have looked at our previous structure and felt that we needed to change the set up of the Academy in order to provide the best pathways possible for our players.

The Elite Education Programme now offers playing opportunities for our Girls Centre of Excellence U17's team. We also have a team entered into the BCS Girls League which runs midweek through the college system. We then have our Reserve Team and First Team that players are aspiring to play for.

We base our training at Oaklands College and University of Hertfordshire, where we have access to their performance unit. We also have opportunity to train at the prestigious London Colney Training Ground home to Arsenal FC.

Our staff at the EEP are Laura Harvey, current First Team Manager and Director of the Elite Education Programme, John Bayer, Technical Director of ALFC Girls Centre of Excellence. Emma Byrne EEP Administrator and GK coach (and first team player) and Jayne Ludow, Charter Physiotherapists (and first team player).