RYEDALE'S 14-year-old students are being offered a unique course in construction following the refurbishment of a former agricultural storage area at Askham Bryan College.

Year ten pupils from Norton College, Lady Lumley's School, Pickering, and Malton School will be able to attend the Pickering campus of the college for one day a week to learn about joinery, trowel trades, and painting and decorating.

The students will study the course alongside their GSCEs and, if successful, they will receive a BTEC First Diploma in Construction, the first time it has been available to 14-year-olds in North Yorkshire.

Stella Ward, of the North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership, which is managing the course, said: "In two years' time these young people will have learnt new skills which are usually taught on the job, so that local tradesmen will save time and money in essential training."

The course came about in response to a need identified by the Ryedale Area Learning Partnership and is funded by the Learning and Skills Council North Yorkshire.

It demonstrates a special partnership between York College, Yorkshire Coast College, Askham Bryan College and Derwent Training Association from Malton, who are working together to provide for a national need in the construction industry.

Updated: 09:20 Wednesday, September 24, 2003