Three of the starting line-up for the Under-18s as they lifted the FA Youth Cup in May were from that schoolboy age group, and eight made 10 or more appearances in Under-18 league games.

The Under-16 team themselves won a Premier League national tournament that also had international teams involved, beating Real Madrid 3-1 in the final.

However for the Academy staff there remained one outstanding examination, or more accurately a set of examinations to consider before the year could be declared an all-round success.

The official Chelsea website reported in November on the full-time school now run by the Academy. This allows young players between the ages of 14 and 16 to spend more time at Cobham during the final two years of their schooling. Last year’s Under-16s were the first group to go through the two years and sit their GCSE exams at the end, so there was much interest all-round when the results were released at the end of the summer.

‘There were three good outcomes for that age group last season,’ Gerry Harvey, the Academy’s head of education (pictured above, back row far right), is pleased to report.

‘There was the football outcome which was fantastic. When I obtained feedback from the boys, a lot of them said one of the biggest pluses was the chance to play with an older age group with the coaches seeing them on a day-to-day basis.

‘Nearly every one of the Under-16 age group played in the Under-18s at some stage last year. I doubt very much that would have happened if they were on a two-day release from their schools as used to be the case.

‘What I also noticed this pre-season was when those boys started as full-time scholars they were physically more robust and handled the training much better, and the whole transition to coming into full-time football as a result.

‘The second good outcome was the social one. When some boys came into the school as 14-year-olds they were quite immature but the way they disciplined themselves to report punctually, to finish their studies and then go and train was first class. It was like a pre-apprenticeship for them going full-time and that was something I didn’t foresee two years ago when we started the school. It has been one of the biggest pluses.’

Joe Edwards (pictured above, back row far left) was the Under-16s coach with the boys last season and has moved up with them to the Under-18s. He confirms the progress.

‘Having witnessed boys coming in at this stage in their development for many years now, this season it was almost as if we had fast-tracked that process by two years because we didn't have to get them used to being around the training ground for six or seven hours per day, Monday to Friday, and living in the area three or four nights a week.

‘The Under-18s and Under-19s players are around the Academy every day with them and all of these things seem to accelerate the process of them maturing as young men.’