SUCCESS has become second-nature at Okehampton College as it continues to surge ahead and create a thriving learning environment for students across West Devon. Education in Okehampton is moving from strength to strength with both the primary school and the college continuing to set high standards for future generations. The college has recently been told that its high ranking, in terms of student progression, has enabled it to become a High Performing Specialist School, described by principal Daryll Chapman as 'the biggest thing to hit the college in the last few years'. The college has been named a high performing school because the progress made by youngsters between the ages of 11 and 16 in the last academic year has put them into the top 20% of schools throughout the country. This has enabled the college to gain a second specialism, in vocational training, to run alongside their main specialism of technology. Mr Chapman said: 'This is all the pieces of the jigsaw coming together and will allow us to interface the academic and the vocational very closely. 'We have been working towards achieving a second specialism for the last three years and I am incredibly pleased we have now achieved this. 'It will provide us with a strong opportunity to develop vocational subjects to complement the successes of our GCSEs.' Now they have been awarded a second specialism, the college will be given additional resources to enable more vocational courses to be delivered across the 11 to 18 age range. Such courses will include construction, health and social care, engineering and hairdressing, together with vocational courses in traditionally more academic subject such as science, business studies, sport and music technology. Mr Chapman continued: 'We want to offer a different learning style through the delivery of such courses. We are trying to provide many different opportunities for all youngsters. 'We recognise we are doing this for the interest of our individual students, not in the interests of our league table standings. 'The plans for our own vocational training centre are due to be submitted during the next few months and this again will complement the achievements the college has gained and will enable us to deliver vocational opportunities onsite. 'This is the catalyst of change, enabling us to provide a platform for vocational subjects to grow and meet the future needs of all our youngsters.' Alongside this the college has also been successful in its 'Gateway 2' application that will see it offer a diploma in construction from 2009. This will allow students to study construction alongside traditional subjects. Because of its relative geographical isolation, the college decided it had to be pro-active in the delivery of diplomas. The final piece of the jigsaw has seen the expressive arts faculty awarded the 'Artsmark Gold' by an external assessor who deemed their work to be 'examples of excellent practice'. But the hard work for the college is not over as it looks to continue to promote and expand the vocational style of study available to students while forming closer links with the Okehampton community. It will be working closely with OCRA to establish a new 'sport hub' in Okehampton, with the most important initial step being the replacement of the all-weather pitch. It is also exploring the possibility, alongside the Devon Heartlands Community Forum, of being involved in developing the Old Mill site into a vocational training centre — a provision that will benefit all of the Okehampton community.
