West Country (W) Education News

A 'Studio School' has been approved for Dorset by the Government.

The school in Dorchester will allow 14 to 19-year-olds to study academic subjects through practical projects designed and delivered by employers.

Schools Commissioner Dr Elizabeth Sidwell says Studio Schools are 'crucial in helping those young people who prefer practical learning to pick up the skills wanted by employers':

• Education
• Dorchester
• Dorset

Dorset is to get a 'Studio School', the Government has announced.

Dorset Studio School in Dorchester will specialise in environmental and land based studies. It is proposed by Kingston Maurward College, a specialist land based college, and Thomas Hardye School.

Key employer partners include the National Trust, the RSPCA, and the Royal Veterinary College.

Studio Schools allow 14 to 19-year-olds to study academic subjects through practical projects designed and delivered by employers. Pupils combine core GCSEs and vocational qualifications with real work experience.

More employers are getting involved in Studio Schools, demonstrating their commitment to preparing young people – who will be their future employees – for the world of work.

It is crucial for young people to have the skills and experience vital to employers, both for their own prosperity and to help us compete in the global race.

• Education
• Dorchester
• Dorset

A Plymouth charity is helping troubled children to turn their lives around. Many of them have been excluded from the mainstream school system.

New Hope teaches the teenagers crafts like carpentry and cookery, and helps them with some of the social skills they have been struggling with.

• UK
• Plymouth

The Government's Minister for Skills, Matthew Hancock MP, is in the region today.

One of his destinations will be the new £10m University Technical College in Newton Abbot:

• Education
• Devon
• Newton Abbot

Nearly £10 million is being spent on a new University Technical College in Newton Abbot.

Based at South Devon College, it is one of 13 announced across the country. The academy school will focus on engineering, water and the environment.

• Education
• Newton Abbot
• Devon

When Sue Jarvis started her new job at a school in Somerset, she didn't think she'd still be doing it 35 years later. But today her long career as a teaching assistant at Ashlands Primary in Crewkerne came to an end.

While there was excitement about the end of term, there was also sadness at saying goodbye.

• Education
• Crewkerne

Many of the UK's 90,000 children of service personnel live in our region. Many have to cope with the stress of having one of their parents far away, often facing the dangers of conflict.

In the latest update from Fixers - the campaign that gives young people a voice - a group of military youngsters in Plymouth aim to help schools better understand the stresses and strains they face in family life.

• Education
• ITV Fixers
• Plymouth

David Cameron said today that he wants apprenticeships to be the accepted alternative for youngsters who decide not to go to university, and that he wants the training schemes to be a core part of rebuilding our economy.

He was speaking at the start of National Apprentice Week. John Andrews has been to see how it's working for some youngsters in Devon.

• Education
• Apprenticeships

School children on the Somerset Levels have been given a unique lesson from top environment and weather experts, to learn why the area floods so often.

Pupils from North Curry primary near Taunton were taken on a trek from the source of the River Tone along its journey to the sea. Richard Lawrence joined them halfway, and got a panoramic view of the floods still dominating the landscape.

• Education
• Somerset Levels
• Flooding

The long-running student ball has been cancelled in its current format, after CCTV footage apparently showing two guests apparently having sex went viral last month. The University's Student Guild launched an investigation after the incident, and now says it will create an alternative event.

• UK
• Exeter University