East Durham & Houghall Community College

East Durham & Houghall Community College is a community college with campuses in Durham, Peterlee and Seaham. The college president is Ian Prescott, who has held the post since 1995.

Information

The college has a roll of around two thousand full-time, and twenty thousand part-time students,fact|date=March 2008 specifically targeting at-risk youth from the surrounding area. The convert|400|acre|km2|sing=on campus at the college includes a variety of facilities, ranging from a full scale plant nursery, arboretum, gourmet restaurant, and two functional beauty and hair salons.

The college also runs a Student Athlete Programme, providing health education to participants. The programme includes basketball, rugby, cricket and footbal teams, providing a variety of competitive opportunities (friendly, league, cup fixtures), but the major focus is on individual skill development as opposed to team organisation.

In 2006, the college was given planning permission to build a new campus at Peterlee. The main reason the college needs a new campus as the buildings at the two campuses in Peterlee do not meet the requirements for access for disabled people. The campus at the Town Centre was originally Easington Technical College and the campus at Howletch was originally Peterlee Grammar School. The new campus is being built on the field at Howletch and will open in September 2008. The two old campuses will be then be demolished with the Howletch site being turned into an all weather sports pitch for the new college and the Town Centre site being turned into new homes, offices and retail space.

"Sounds Alive"

The Peterlee Town Centre campus hosts the "Sounds Alive" event, every four weeks on a Friday night, giving local bands an opportunity to perform. Recently, Sounds Alive had been cancelled as the college lost its license. This was reinstated, and the event continues under the new name "Freaky Weasels"

External links

* [http://www.edhcc.ac.uk/ East Durham & Community College Homepage]