A DORSET care provider has opened a new academy to encourage vocational training among young people.

Further fostering the relationship between business and education, Weymouth College has partnered with Portland based Agincare to open the Agincare Heath and Social Care Academy.

Offering a diverse syllabus, Agincare has pledged that the academy will deliver a range of clear pathways into long-term care careers for students throughout Dorset.

Agincare CEO Raina Summerson said: "The college’s health and social care course is outstanding and we are confident that, through our partnership, we can enhance and enrich that course still further, offering real life business experience and vital employability skills.

"We hope to showcase the key issues in the sector and the wonderful career options available. These cover not only direct care related and frontline roles, but various management positions and business administration, hospitality and catering.”

"We want to really support students and make them feel positive about working within this highly satisfying area.

"We also hope that this raises the profile of the sector and attracts more people into studying and working in social care."

From humble beginnings, Agincare has become one of the largest independent providers of care in the country, delivering a range of services from live-in care, nursing homes, respite, dementia care and prison support.

Today, the company employs 3,000 staff in 50 locations across the country and holds considerable influence in both the private and public sectors.

Milli Threadwell, a business administration apprenticeship at Agincare, said: "I really enjoy working whilst I am learning. At work I am surrounded by people who know exactly what the business is all about and they are helping me to grow and develop skills I could not have so easily learnt if I was purely classroom based.

"As a student you really feel you are part of an experienced team from the beginning and that you are being actively trained for a future in a sector offering a great variety of career opportunities."

The academy was officially opened by South Dorset MP Richard Drax at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the college's HIX Academy last Friday.

College Principal Nigel Evans said: "We are extremely pleased to be working with Agincare on the academy which I firmly believe offers the innovation, enrichment and job creation possibilities so important to the economic future of quality social care services in Dorset."