Former Forest star Jermaine Jenas visits school to help inspire pupils

Former Forest footballer, Jermaine Jenas visits students at Carlton le Willows Academy to talk about the importance of attending classes and to play some table tennis.

Jermaine Jenas, well known on the football pitch as a former Forest player, is also one of the owners of Aquinas Education, an agency that aims to tackle areas such as truancy, punctuality and youth crime.

The company also aims to use his sporting success and Nottingham roots to inspire pupils.

Staff at Carlton le Willows Academy hope playing sport will build students’ character and give them something to aspire to, which is why they set up table tennis areas around the school.

Mr Jenas was keen to get involved and encourage pupils to join in with the sport.

Video: Jermaine Jenas talks the work he does.

It was also Jermaine’s mission to talk to students about the importance of going to class.

Truancy officers say attendance has improved at Djanogly Northgate Academy but more still needs to be done.

Craig Weaver is the Headteacher of Carlton le Willows and believes it’s really important to have people like Jermaine at schools to inspire the pupils.

Video: Headteacher of Carlton le Willows Academy talks about having Jermaine at the school.

Students at the school welcomed Jermaine with open arms and seemed pleased to see the athlete.

One pupil said: “It just makes you feel a bit more confident and just feel better about the school.”

Another student said: “It makes me want to show off and show him what I can do.”

Jermaine still feels there are other problems to tackle in classrooms across Nottinghamshire and is continuing to work with local schools to try and solve them.