York City Knights have agreed a new strategic partnership with Oaklands School that will benefit the club on and off the pitch.

They are also in talks with York College about setting up a new School of Excellence affiliated to the Knights.

Under the first agreement, the club will move their training base to the specialist sports college at Oaklands, thus saving their Huntington Stadium pitch for match-days.

They will also run their community programmes, including schools tournaments, at Oaklands. On this note, the club are close to setting up a charitable foundation to continue their community development work, with an application having gone to the charity commissioners for a new YCK Foundation Ltd.

The main club office will stay at Roland Court, while the training sessions at Leeds Rhinos' state-of-the-art centre will also continue.

The club have been in discussions with Oaklands for nine months to work out this partnership. Chief executive John Guildford said: "I'm delighted. I believe it is good for the club and the community.

"They've got all the facilities we would want for training. The facilities there are excellent, probably as good as clubs have got in Super League."

Oaklands is currently undergoing a £1.7 million refurbishment, so in the run-up to Christmas, the Knights will train at Nestle Rowntree's Mille Crux ground, under new temporary lighting, having come to an agreement also with that sports club.

The School of Excellence will be for 16 to 19-year-olds, who will be able to enjoy academic studies alongside rugby.

There are already schools of excellence in football, linked to York City, and basketball at the Tadcaster Road college.

If agreed, it will enhance a Knights-affiliated rugby and academic pathway from York primary schools to the first team.

Tag rugby will introduce primary schoolchildren to the sport and on to amateur clubs. Top players then get identified for service area representative teams, then the Knights Scholarship and on to the new Academy side.

There will also be the School of Excellence option for school-leavers to work their way into the Academy picture.

Guildford added: "I believe we will be one of the best-run clubs in NL1.

"We've made big strides and we're still moving forward."

Updated: 09:42 Tuesday, November 22, 2005