October 2015 saw The PFA / unionlearn ‘Achievement Through Sport’ programme and Reading FC Community Trust launch the opening of the Royals Education Hub.

The PFA / unionlearn have funded a refurbishment of the Community Trust classroom, supplying the club with IT equipment and new tables. 

The opening of the Hub saw presentations from Reading FC Head of Community, Dave Evans, and PFA representatives to a range of the Community trusts partners. In attendance were Reading FC Chief Executive and Finance Director, as well as representatives from local colleges, faith centres and schools, including the John Madejski Academy. Other partners were also at the opening such as the Princes Trust and Get Reading active. 

Dave Evans said:

Our partnership with the PFA has grown over the years and we are pleased to have had the support from the PFA & Unionlearn to launch the new Hub. We are a community-based club in the heartbeat of Reading and we want to ensure our facilities are utilised by all members of the community. We have had different languages put into our new hub publicity documents following on from the advice and guidance given by the PFA’s Riz Rehman. I’m sure this will help to attract new communities to The Royals Hub."

The new Royals Education Hub will be used to deliver number of classes providing participants with a range of qualifications. Some of these classes include Junior Football coaching and Leaders courses, Princes Trust certificate for employment classes, and functional skills classes such as Maths, English and ICT.

Riz Rehman, the PFA/ULF Project Worker, who works closely with Reading FC as part of his cluster of clubs said:

Reading FC have shown their commitment to ensure their new facilities are attended by all members of the community. They are the first club in my cluster to add different languages to their educational leaflet and I’m sure this will go down very well with community partners. We look forward to continuing our support and seeing as many people as possible making use of the new hub which is situated in a fantastic location next to the Madejski Stadium."

Adrian Ryan, unionlearn Senior Support Officer, added:

The Reading FC Community Trust and PFA learning centre re-launch was an good opportunity to learn more about the excellent work that is taking place in the learning centre, it plays a vital role in supporting young people back into education and training and can only benefit individual learners the wider community. 

In my role at unionlearn I currently work with a number of other unions in the Reading area and will work with them to promote the centre as wide as possible to ensure that the fantastic opportunities on offer are taken up. The link between Reading FC and the local community with the support of the PFA has been vital in ensuring that young people can be encouraged to learn through their interest in football, this is a really positive way in which football clubs and the PFA sport are helping to support hard to reach learners."