A £2.4-million technology centre for Okehampton College opened its doors this week as pupils returned to lessons after their summer break.
The new accommodation, which houses five ICT suites, facilities for electronics, design, textiles and food technology, plus catering training facilities and a practice restaurant, has taken a year to build and heralds the start of the college?s status as a Technology College.
Six additional teachers have been employed to work in the technology centre which will allow the school to offer a wider range of vocational courses especially in the field of catering plus an increase of computer facilities for school pupils.
College principal Chris Powell, who took delight in giving West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett a tour of the new building after his efforts in helping the school?s campaign for LEA funding, said the technology centre was a very exciting development and would open up lots of opportunities for the youngsters.
?We have been limited in the past by the size of the teaching accommodation and we have not been able to offer as much IT training as we would have liked,? he said.
?On the catering side, we hope many more young people will take up employment in leisure and tourism industries in the South West as a result of their training here.?
As a technology status college, Okehampton will receive £140,000 annually for the next four years, which will be used to reduce class sizes, run more courses and provide new equipment in the areas of maths, science, technology and IT. A large portion of the money will be used in feeder primary schools to improve standards in maths.