THREE new vocational courses have been launched at West Somerset College thanks to funding from the Opportunity Areas initiative.
They will be offered from next September in hospitality and catering, women’s hairdressing and construction-related skills from carpentry to plastering and roofing.
The £6m Opportunity Areas scheme in West Somerset aims to raise education standards and broaden the horizons of young people, ranging from early years education to skills for employment.
West Somerset is one of 12 opportunity areas in the UK with low social mobility, and scored lowest out of 324 local authorities in the Social Mobility Index published last year, which compared the chances that a child from a disadvantaged background will do well at school and get a good job.
Zoe Stucki, headteacher at the college, said the Opportunity Areas funding gave the college a “fantastic opportunity” to review the curriculum and increase its vocational offer.
“We have seized the chance to widen the more practical approach to learning and whatever we put in place is a long-term investment that is sustainable for the future,” she said.
“Budgets are incredibly tight in schools and we can only do this because the Opportunity Areas funding allows the financing to kick-start these courses."