Student success at former City Farm site
Friday 7 October 2011
Eleven teenagers have become the first to benefit from a new education and training facility created on the site of the former City Farm.
The 15 year olds have all successfully completed the first year of their BTEC level one in construction. They have also achieved a British Safety Council health and safety in the workplace qualification.
The 11 young people have now returned and are now studying for their BTEC level two qualification.
The former City Farm site is run by not-for-profit education and training provider Vanishing Barriers and its partner organisation Motorvate UK. It includes the Clarence Road site as well as the Leigh Street allotments.
They offer work related programmes in partnership with Coventry City Council for students who find it difficult to achieve in a classroom environment or those wanting to achieve a qualification in a more hands-on way.
They include Mark Pearce who attends Lyng Hall School in Wyken who decided to take up the course when he chose his options back in year nine.
He remembers: "At the time I thought that I'd like to be a carpenter and I could have chosen design technology at school but that would have been far more theory based.
"I chose this instead and now I come here once a week and I really enjoy it. Through doing this I have learnt a lot of skills and also that I definitely want to go into carpentry when I am older."
The transformation of the City Farm site is the result of Coventry City Council seeking ways to bring the land back into use after it closed in April 2008.
Phil Moodie of Motorvate UK who provides the training opportunities said: "Excellent partnership work between local organisations and the local council has been the reason why the redevelopment of the old City Farm is proving to be so successful even during these harsh economic times."
Councillor Joe Clifford, Coventry City Council's Cabinet Member for Health and Community Services, is delighted with the success of the young people.
He said: "As a council we were committed to ensuring the site was brought back into community use and this success is also thanks to the great work of Vanishing Barriers.
"This is a real community resource because as well as the education and training element there development will also provide a children's play area, community gardens and a 'green gym' as well as bringing the Leigh Street allotments back into use."
