Around 350 additional post 16 education places are being created specifically to support young learners with special educational needs and disabilities in Exeter, Mid and North Devon.
We are working with Petroc College in Barnstaple and Tiverton, and with Exeter College, where the additional places are being made available.
Refurbishment work at Petroc’s two college sites, in Barnstaple and Tiverton, are well underway, with the Tiverton facility expected to open by October half term.
The college’s two sites will create an additional 250 post-16 education places, while Exeter College will provide a further 100 additional places for young people with SEND, most of whom will have Education, Health and Care Plans.
Councillor Denise Bickley, the council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for services that support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, met with senior teachers at Petroc College, Tiverton, to see how the refurbishment work is going.
“What we’ve been able to do in the last year is totally redesign our curriculum,” explains the college’s Assistant Principal, Jo Byrne.
“With that, we need a bespoke campus that puts the learner at the centre.
“We know that the primary need for learners, particularly with SEND, is changing.
“We need to make sure that we offer provision that is inclusive to everybody within the North and Mid Devon community.
“We need a curriculum that supports learners into ambitious work placements; that prepares learners for Foundation Apprenticeships, internships, and destinations in other colleges, particularly in Exeter and Barnstaple.”
To do that, the college is refurbishing its former ‘fitness centre’ building. Over three floors, the new facility will include a large, bright café, supported by an industrial kitchen.
Both café and kitchen will double-up as practical learning spaces for pupils to gain practical experience of working in the catering and hospitality industry, as well a providing food and beverages to visitors.
There will also be a craft room and classroom spaces on the ground and first floors, and on the top floor a dedicated space with separate entrance and lift for the college’s successful and growing Home to On-site (H2O) programme.
The H2O programme works with young people who have disengaged with their education, or are at risk of disengaging with their education. It works one-to-one with individuals to help overcome the challenges that are keeping them from learning in the classroom, slowly re-integrating them and helping them back into their education.
What started two years ago supporting about 12 learners, the H2O programme now supports more than 100 learners.
“It’s really important for those learners who struggle to engage in education that we’re able to build those educational relationships and encourage them back into education,” says Jo Byrne.
“Our success rates are absolutely remarkable, and what the new facility in Tiverton will provide is greater capacity for this exceptional programme.”
Councillor Denise Bickley said after seeing the refurbishment and talking to college’s Principal and Assistant Principal:
“It’s been fantastic walking around Petroc today and hearing about all their ideas for the future,” she said.
“It epitomises the idea that we need to make all of our places for children to learn inclusive and focused on outcomes.
“We need to see more inclusivity in our education system in Devon and that’s what we’re looking at: setting up more places for children in the right place, the right time and with the right ethos for what young people need.
“The three college sites in Barnstaple, Tiverton and Exeter are going to be working more and more closely together to support young people, whether that’s through apprenticeships, internships, or other training methods to keep young people engaged and to build their self-esteem that we know they deserve to have.”
