Top Shropshire specialist college faces threat over funding

Derwen College near Oswestry has seen its student number drop as councils tighten the financial reins and earlier this year it was forced to made redundancies among staff.

Bosses at the college say students with learning disabilities should have the same right as others to go to their equivalent of university.

And they say Shropshire Council seems unable to recognise the benefits of having specialist education on its doorstep.

The college was put under the national spotlight this week in a BBC documentary, Life Begins Now, which looked at the lives of six students, including two from Mid Wales, as they came to the end of their three years at Derwen.

Deputy principal Andrew Harris said the programme had been very well received. "We have had so many positive comments," he said.

But Mr Harris said Life Begins Now gave only a small glimpse into education at the college.

"We have been scored as outstanding in our last two Ofsted inspectors, yet we are struggling to persuade local authorities, including Shropshire, to fund students.

"We have 250 students and once had a long waiting list of young people wanting to study with us. But that is a luxury we no longer have.

"We go to an awful lot of school and college fairs to market ourselves and a lot of student and parents are very impressed."

But families have a real battle on their hands to ensure they can access the college that they want, he said.

Although Derwen College offers education for those aged 16-plus, most of the students are between 18 to 25.

It is supporting a national campaign – A Right not a Fight – for those with learning difficulties and disabilities to access the education of their choice. Mr Harris said: "Other young people have the right to go to any university they choose but it is completely different for our students.

"They have to go through a rigorous process to even come here and visit us. They can name a college that they want to go to and the local authority has to consider that as a possibility for their future education."

He said Shropshire had recently set up new units for those with learning difficulties – one at Shrewsbury College and another at the Lakelands school in Ellesmere.

"It seems unable to recognise what we offer," he said. "The council opened a unit at the Lakeland school saying there was nothing for pupils in north Shropshire – when it has us on the doorstep.

"I am not decrying mainsteam education but it is not for everyone."

The advantages of residential education was also not recognised.

"Day students do not get the experience of being away from home. For our residential students Derwen is their university – three years when they are living away from home, away from their parents. We see them flourish over the three years."

As well as the education, Derwen College also gives students important work experience through its social enterprise companies, which include the garden centre, cafe and restaurant and farm shop.

Shropshire Council was unavailable for a comment.