WEST Somerset College has blamed a poor uptake for the cancellation of a number of post-16 courses after an angry parent claimed her son's education had been thrown into disarray.

Joanna Bourne's son Jacob had hoped to study carpentry in September after sitting exams this term.

But despite receiving an acceptance letter for the course in April, this week he was told the course had been cancelled.

Instead he has been offered a place on a building and operations maintenance course – or will have to try and find an alternative carpentry course outside West Somerset.

Ms Bourne said: "He's in the middle of his exams and only has a few days left of school.

"Now he has to cope with this as well, despite being told he had got a place on the carpentry course.

"We're running out of time to find him something else – he'd already looked at the building and operations maintenance course and decided he didn't want to do it because he wanted to do carpentry.

"The college is trying to fob me off by offering him the other course but it's the not the same and he didn't want to do it in the first place."

She said several other courses had also been cancelled and that Jacob and around 60 other students had had to re-do part of their construction coursework after it was "lost" by the college.

Acting principal Steve Moir said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the "BTEC issue" as it was an internal matter and was currently under investigation.

But he apologised for Jacob being told the carpentry course had been cancelled just a matter of weeks after receiving an acceptance letter.

Mr Moir said: "The parent referred to has met with college staff and received an apology that an acceptance letter for the carpentry course was issued in error.

"This was an administrative error and should not have happened.

"These systems and processes for this are being reviewed and improved to ensure that this cannot happen again."

He said Jacob had been the only student who applied for the course and the college had to make tough decisions to ensure funding was spent sustainably on all students.

"Were we to run a course with such small numbers we would have to reduce our curriculum offer and/or teaching to other students in a different area of the college in order to supplement such a small number studying a course which, by the nature of the materials required, is particularly costly.

"Post-16 courses in other sixth form centres and colleges would not be able to run a course for only one student.

"We have instead offered an alternative qualification of building and operations maintenance at the same qualification level and with elements of carpentry skills built in and taught by specialist staff.

"This qualification has been selected specifically after liaising with local employers, including Butlin's and local house builders, who specifically need the types of skills developed within this qualification," Mr Moir said.

He said he fully understood Jacob's disappointment and would apologise in person to both him and his mother.

But Ms Bourne remained unhappy with her son's treatment and said it was "disgusting" students were having to re-do lost coursework and find suitable post-16 courses at extremely short notice.

"It's just been one thing after another with that college and I wish more people would complain.

"They're cancelling other courses as well and I'm angry, frustrated and upset they can do this two days before he's meant to finish college," she said.

Mr Moir said the college ran many courses with far lower numbers than other educational establishments but had little choice but to look at the viability of those with a take up of less than five students.

"I and colleagues have spent considerable time meeting with this parent to find a positive solution," he said.