A SERIES of courses held at the College in Braintree are to be moved to Colchester, it has been revealed.

Classes including music, art and design, sport, photography and fashion and textiles are to be transferred from the Church Lane campus to Colchester Institute, which runs the college, from this September.

The changes affect up to 100 of the 1,000 students at the college. Everyone who does not complete their course this summer will be automatically offered a place at Colchester.

Principal Alison Andreas said those on courses of two years or longer could be given financial support to help them transfer to Colchester.

She said: “We are moving a small number programmes delivered at Braintree to our Colchester campus.

It’s really about a certain amount of rationalisation of provision so that we’re delivering as efficiently as possible.

“It’s also about giving the students the best possible experience.

“We recognise that it can be difficult for some people but we will support those people financially if possible if they incur additional travel costs.”

Mrs Andreas said Colchester was the “creative capital of Essex”, and there were more opportunities for those taking courses such as music and art to meet experts and develop there. By contrast, a new centre is being built at Braintree focusing on Stem subjects — science, technology, engineering and maths.

The aim is to provide skills for jobs in the district covering technology, engineering, construction, health, care, finance and business, IT and digital media.

Mrs Andreas also admitted funding pressures played a part in the decision.

She added: “We have got to be absolutely honest. No college anywhere can continue to afford to offer everything, everywhere.

“What we’re doing in Braintree is boosting our provision in the skill priorities for Mid Essex, which is going to be around engineering, health and care and construction and a whole range of other subjects.”

Mrs Andreas said she hoped, for example, that health students could get placements at the Church Lane surgery due to open on part of the college premises next week.

While the remainder of the campus buildings will continue to be used in the short term, some older buildings may be replaced. Mrs An- dreas said: “I think over the coming years we will see some fairly significant changes at the campus, but we haven’t finalised those plans yet.”

Affected students have been invited to Colchester campus for an open evening on Monday, March 27, while a booklet is being created advising secondary school pupils of the changes.