A football school in Oxford is enjoying watching its former pupils achieve their goals on the pitch, as well as off it.

But the football development centre at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, which counts Nottingham Forest striker Garath McCleary and Oxford United's Matty Taylor among its alumni, is on the look-out for more talent.

Centre manager Des Buckingham said: "We have shown we can really produce great players.

"Just last week, Garath McCleary marked his first team debut for Nottingham Forest by scoring and Matty Taylor has recently had his professional contract extended at United.

"The focus now, though, is on recruiting for next year's course and we're particularly keen to hear from girls."

The course is looking to recruit 50 students for its 2008-9 intake and would like 20 of those to be girls.

Mr Buckingham said: "We know there are lots of female players out there, who might be looking to focus more on their football post-16."

Students can choose to take one of three Btec courses: a one-year diploma in sport, a two-year national diploma in sport and exercise science or a two-year national diploma in sports performance and excellence.

The course is in its sixth year and fields three teams in the Conference Youth League, the English Colleges League and the Oxford Schools League. Players train at Brasenose College's sports ground, in Abingdon Road.

Mr Buckingham said: "It's not all about skills on the pitch. We have plenty of students focusing on coaching and physiotherapy and recently had 24 students pass their level one FA coaching course, which is an important first step on the coaching ladder."

He added: "This is something we are very proud of."

Jack Costar, 19, a first-year student on the sports performance and excellence course, said: "I'm really pleased to have got this first qualification. The course as a whole has been great so far. I would recommend it to anyone with a love of football."

For more details, call 01865 550799 or send an email to DBuckingham@ocvc.ac.uk