Chelsea Football Club belatedly teamed up with the Government this week and joined a scheme aimed at boosting children’s grasp of the 3Rs. The move comes a year after the club was criticised for refusing to sign up to the Playing for Success programme.
About 100,000 children aged nine to 14 have attended the scheme’s study centres in the past seven years. Analysis by the National Foundation for Educational Research has shown that primary-age children’s maths skills can accelerate by up to 17 months, and by two years in the case of secondary pupils.