College launches pioneering educational project for young performers with learning disabilities

Chichester College has joined forces with Chichester Festival Theatre and Rolls-Royce to launch a specialist training programme in the performing arts for students who live with conditions such as Down’s syndrome, autism and Asperger’s syndrome. The ground-breaking programme, entitled Theatre Inc., is the first of its kind in the UK to be recognised by the Government’s Educational Funding Agency. Only 1 in 3 people with a learning disability will take part in education or training and currently 58,000 people with a learning disability are supported by day care centres. Lecturer in dance, Siobhan McCormark, suggested that “everyone wants to see