Following his call up to England Under 16 Football squad, Joe Ridley, who studies at Northern Education Trust’s Red House Academy in Sunderland, was presented with a framed England shirt by the Trust’s chief executive, Rob Tarn, in recognition of his achievements on the pitch.

Joe, who plays for Middlesbrough Football Club’s Under 16s team was called up as part of the England Under 16s team as a result of the great promise he had shown in performances for ‘The Boro’ as it is known locally. The England Under 16s squad played in the Aegean Cup in January competing in matches against Albania, Moldova and Russia.

Joe was “over the moon” to get the call up to be part of the England team and describes the experience of actually pulling on an England shirt and playing for his country as “the best feeling in the world”.

Once Joe completes his GCSEs in July, he will join Middlesbrough FC as an academy scholar. A spokesman for Middlesbrough FC said:

“We look forward to welcoming Joe as part of our intake for the start of next season and wish him and all our scholars every success as they take their first steps towards what we hope will be a long and successful career.”

Staff and students at Red House Academy are immensely proud of Joe’s success. Mr Burns, principal at the academy said:

“Joe displays all of the qualities and attributes that we try to instil in our students at Red House Academy – character, determination and a will to succeed – this is demonstrated in his school work as well as on the pitch. His unassuming nature disguises his achievements. We are all extremely proud of him; he is a credit to his parents and our school.”