CUMNOCK and Auchinleck pupils got a taste of college life for a week.

Ayrshire College delivered a building services course for students who may soon be migrating to the new £68m Barony Campus.

A site visit to the Barony Campus was arranged for the pupils by Morrison Construction.

Th e pupils no w have th e choice of staying on at school or opting to transition to a January start course at Ayrshire College.

Delivered by The Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House, every pupil who started the course achieved a City and Guilds unit in Electrical Installation and the Industrial Cadets Bronze Award.

They als o took part in a lead work masterclass delivered by Malcol m Thomson of David Blakes & Sons, from Musselburgh.

Camero n Bell, Head of Construction Technology, Trades, Motor Vehicle and Horticulture at Ayrshire College said :“It is very important to engage school pupils to hopefully inspire them to take up a career in building services, and we were very fortunate to have the support of our partners from SECTT and SNIPEF to support the pupils in providing valuable career advice.

“Having the first-year plumbing apprentices work on the lead work challenge wa s reall y useful fo r both the transfer of knowledge and skills relating to the task, but more importantly to have another young person act as a career mentor to the pupils.

“The leadwork masterclass was a great way to roun d off a successful week and we were very fortunate to have Malcolm Thomso n give up his time to demonstrate his incredible skills in this area.

“Overall it was a very successful course and I hope that we can continue this partnership with the Prince’ s Foundation to benefit local pupils in the future.

”Elsewhere on th e Friday , pupils teamed up with modern apprentices in plumbing at Ayrshire College, to tackle a plumbing workshop challenge.

All lead for the challenge was supplied by Associated Lead Mills Ltd (ALM).

The course participants were awarded their completion certificates at a celebration event.