Town’s academy was one of the top three in last season’s EPPP category two audit and are one of only two clubs to have been granted a three-year licence to operate at that level.
Auditors, who won't now return to Playford Road until 2020, assessed the Blues’ youth set-up during October last year.
"We are really pleased obviously with the results,” academy manager Lee O’Neill told the club website.
"""A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes in all departments across the academy. We have all worked extremely hard to make sure that our programme is in line with what is expected at this standard but in a lot of areas we are above the level required.
"""A number of departments were ranked number one in the category two clubs. We were top for sports science and medicine, top for operations and recruitment and our coaching programme was ranked second.
"Staff have gone above and beyond to deliver a programme that is as good as it can possibly be. "
Pretty happy with that result! Ranked No.1 for Sports Science and Medicine in Category 2 EPPP audit, &benchmarked as top5 in whole country! pic.twitter.com/5HX3rqxQzC
— Jimmy Reynolds (@Ptjimmyr) August 10, 2017
"Nothing has changed with our aim to get to category one at some stage but we feel that we have a programme that is offering a clear pathway for younger players to progress through the academy into the first team.”""
Already this season Flynn Downes, Tristan Nydam and Luke Woolfenden have made their senior debuts while previous academy graduates Tommy Smith, Andre Dozzell and Myles Kenlock have also featured.