A NORTH-EAST college has unveiled a new partnership with a community farm, with plans to run a range of courses ranging from animal care to floristry.

East Durham College will be running courses from Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead from September.

It will initially run a full-time Level 2 Diploma in animal care at the site and is looking to expand into other course areas such as floristry and environmental conservation.

The college is hoping to give students from a wider catchment area an opportunity to learn on courses that are usually taught from its 450-acre land based college at the Houghall Campus, in Durham.

Houghall head Jane Pringle said: “This is a really exciting new venture for East Durham College, the Houghall Campus and Bill Quay Farm.

“We believe the partnership with the farm will help us showcase the outstanding work we do with learners at Houghall and bring a whole new range of exciting courses to an inner city area of the north east.

College principal Suzanne Duncan said: “Staff at the Houghall Campus work extremely hard to make sure all students achieve the best grades possible on a huge range of courses at the site.

“Our success rate of 90 per cent makes us the fourth best land-based college with over 500 students in the country for overall success rates, something that we are really proud of.”

The courses at Bill Quay Farm site are aimed at 16 to 18-year-old learners, but students over 19 may also apply.

For further information two open evenings will be held at Bill Quay Farm, in Hainingwood Terrace, Gateshead, on Thursday, July 25 and Wednesday, August 7 from 4.30pm till 7pm. Or contact 0191-3754710.