Agricultural courses offered by Teesdale School after deal with top farming college

TEESDALE School and East Durham College have announced an “exciting new partnership” to make land based-agricultural courses more accessible to students.

East Durham College’s Houghall Campus, in Durham, is offering post-
16 students improved transport options, as well as flexible timetables and developments to the curriculum to allow more young people to access their agricultural courses.
In return, Teesdale School plans to enable parts of the courses to be delivered at the school in Barnard Castle.
Plans are also being developed to offer pre-16 students agricultural teaching in school and on placements at the Houghall campus, which has recently undergone a £12.75 million redevelopment including a new small animal care centre, agricultural centre, equine centre, brand new science labs and IT suites.
Janice Gorlach, executive principal at Teesdale School and Sixth Form, said: “This unique agreement will mean that our post-16 students have easier to access this excellent facility.
“By offering flexibility, East Durham College are opening up a new avenue of learning opportunities in one of the finest agricultural learning facilities in the country.”
Suzanne Duncan, principal at East Durham College, added: “We believe it is vital to offer young people who live in the west of County Durham and the dales, the opportunity to study agriculture up to
level three right here in Durham.
“Houghall had a long tradition of training the sons and daughters of our hill farming community – and with the redevelopment of the Houghall, facilities and the introduction of our new level three advanced technical extended diploma in agriculture Houghall is once again able to meet the training needs of this community.”
Full time courses available to post-16 students at Houghall includes level one to three qualifications in
agriculture, animal care, arboriculture and forestry, countryside management, equine studies, floristry, horticulture and gardening and veterinary nursing.