MINEHEAD'S Foxes Academy - which helps young adults with learning difficulties open the door to the world of work - has received national recognition for its success.

The residential training hotel and college has been featured in a best practice case study by the educational governing body Ofsted and the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL).

The study highlights the exemplary success of the academy, focusing on its high standards, its outstanding collaboration with employers, and the exceptional preparation that learners receive for their progress into paid, supported or voluntary work.

Foxes offers its students experience in a range of different areas of work within the hotel, from housekeeping to food preparation.

They receive regular careers advice and guidance before deciding which area of hospitality and catering to specialise in.

The students, who are supported by more than 120 educational, vocational, residential and therapeutic staff, also benefit from work experience placements outside the hotel - often within the local community.

Principal Sharon Bowden said the academy was delighted to have been elected to be included in the best practice showcase.

"We work hard to achieve the best possible outcomes for our learners and we hope that by reaching a wider audience this example helps others to achieve similar results," she said.

"The most important thing is the difference we make to young people's lives."

Mrs Bowden said 95 per cent of students who left in 2012 were now living semi independently.

"Before they came to us, they lived with their parents.

"Eighteen out of the 21 leavers found employment within three months - these statistics are undeniably outstanding."

Mrs Bowden said Foxes valued the contribution that local businesses made towards its training programme, either by offering work placements so that students could take on extra challenges or by being supportive and understanding as the young people learned to use the local shops, banks and cafes independently.

"The students not only gain vocational skills from this training but because of the way we work with employers and industry they come away with a clearer understanding of the skills needed for the work place and a genuinely more visible route into employment."