Excellent results for students of the Dartington Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture

Students studying the Dartington Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture course experienced overwhelming success recently when they received their first external exam results.

Of the sixteen students who sat their Level 2 National Certificate for the Dartington Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture, twelve students received distinctions, two students were awarded merits and two students received a pass, giving a 100 per cent pass rate.

At the beginning of last summer The Dartington Hall Trust and Duchy College teamed up to bring the Dartington Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture onto the Dartington Estate, with the aim to equip a new wave of Dartington students with the skills necessary for 21st century food production and gardening.

The course introduced a fresh influx of students to the Dartington Estate and launched a new and exciting partnership between Dartington and Duchy College, ‘Cornwall’s College of the Countryside’ – through a shared desire to meet the pressing need to train the sustainable farmers and growers of tomorrow.

Jon Rae, Head of Vocations and Enterprise at Schumacher College said: “This has been an exciting first year for the Certificate, which has brought together a number of unique approaches to horticulture from across Dartington. These students are pioneers in the area of sustainable food production and we are delighted that they leave with such excellent results.”

Learning to grow food in an oil-scarce world is possibly one of the most useful skills any young person could be learning and a significant rise in demand is anticipated in the job market. Similarly, there is an increasing demand for ways to manage heritage gardens that are less dependent on fossil fuels and promote biodiversity.

Bill Herring, Horticulture Curriculum Area Manager, said: “I was very proud to see this result. The students have worked very hard over the last year and this is a credit to the College. I hope that the students continue to work to this standard and that the partnership with Dartington continues to be a success.”

Applications are being accepted for level 3 of The Dartington Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture. Click here for more details