STUDENTS from Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl campus are helping rangers at a nature reserve to clear areas ready to plant orchids and rebuild hedgerows to facilitate nest-building for a wide range of wildlife.

The Level 1 Public Services students are volunteering at the Brickfield Pond nature reserve, which is located next to college’s Rhyl campus.

During their time there, the EPIC students have learnt about the importance of biodiversity, sustainability and green spaces.

The EPIC programme is an alternative education scheme offered in colleges across Denbighshire, which provides opportunities for Year 11 students to achieve a qualification in a specific subject area such as Construction, Motor Vehicle, Agriculture, Health and Social Care, Hairdressing and ICT.

These students would be unlikely to achieve their GCSEs in school for a variety of reasons.

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Cara Baker, Public Services lecturer, said: “What a fantastic sight to see so many young people working for a better environment.

“This project is helping them gain voluntary hours for their course, whilst giving something back to the local area.

“On top of this, they are also set to achieve their bronze Duke of Edinburgh awards.

“They all worked really hard and are a credit to the college.”

This is not the first time that Rhyl College students have supported of the burgeoning green agenda, as two years ago, nearly 100 Coleg Llandrillo students from the Rhyl campus spent two days planting more than 1,000 trees in Rhyl and Prestatyn.

The college’s Public Services courses are designed to prepare for employment in the armed forces, police, ambulance service, fire service, prison service and other community and emergency service-related organisations.