North Devon College Closes

A Barnstaple college for students with special needs is being forced to close because it's run out of funding.

Heddon College, which is the post-16 part of Lampard Community School, has been operating as a pilot project for the past two years.

It's been a huge success and has 23 students with 30 enrolled for next term.

But Devon County Council can no longer fund it and an application to become an independent  specialist provider was turned down by the Young People's Learning Agency.  It costs around £300,000 to run.

North devon MP Nick Harvey is unhappy:  CLICK HERE

Head teacher is Karen Rodgers. Hear what she has to say: CLICK HERE

A Devon County Council spokesperson said: "Naturally we are sad that Heddon has had to close.
"While Petroc College is responsible for post-16 education in North Devon, we agreed to work with the school to see if this much smaller post-16 unit was viable.
"We found some money to fund it as a pilot in 2009 but the school was asked to stress to parents all along that there was no guarantee it would ever become permanent.
"The school asked the Young People's Learning Agency if it could fund Heddon through its 16 to 19 budget but it did not meet the YPLA criteria.
"We have been working closely with the school and Petroc to ensure suitable courses are available for the young people."