Hastings site to be turned into 'educational hub'
and live on Freeview channel 276
Plumpton College will be delivering courses in the town later this year.
Courses range from horticulture, viticulture, and dog grooming, as well as other land-based subjects.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe move is part of a seven-year plan to transform underused land in Hastings into an educational hub.
Education Futures Trust (EFT) recently launched the proposals for the site at The Firs.
A partnership has also been set up between Broadening Horizons Together and EFT, which works to support children, families and vulnerable adults in Hastings and the surrounding area, as well as Plumpton College.
EFT said the partnership will result in the introduction of a green, environmental, and land-based curriculum delivered by Plumpton College at The Firs.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIt added that through the Towns Fund, the site at The Firs will benefit from an investment in resources, including a new modular classroom.
Sally-Ann Hart, MP for Hastings and Rye, and Darrell Gale, director of public health at East Sussex County Council, were among those invited to The Firs site in Elphinstone Road at a launch event on June 8 to learn more about the new development, which is set to launch at the end of July.
Carole Dixon, EFT’s CEO, said: “The partnership will deliver specialist land-based provision for school and home educated students, as well as a post-16 offer that provides exposure and training that closes the skills gap within the land-based jobs market.
"Adult provision will support career change opportunities and industry up-skilling that meets local need.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“This holistic approach will provide a seamless transition into learning and will ultimately provide progression routes into skills development and employment; tackling the significant socio-economic challenges faced by the town and leading to improved life chances.”
In autumn 2019, the Government announced that Hastings, along with 100 other towns across the UK, had been selected to bid for a share of £3.6 billion from the Towns Fund in order to support the regeneration of the town centre and gateway sites over the next decade.
Plumpton College is a further and higher education college, based in Plumpton, that runs courses in a variety of land-based and related subjects, including agriculture, horticulture, floristry, equine studies, metalsmithing, animal care and veterinary nursing, forestry and arboriculture and viticulture.