Visitors to the open day at the Wisbech Campus of the College of West Anglia on Saturday got an insight into what it had to offer both for the present and in the future. For as well as the opportunity for students and parents to see the range of courses available at Wisbech, they had first sight of artists drawings of the proposed new £5.5m teaching centre. It will be funded with £4.6m from the Government, only announced last week, to fund and refurbish existing buildings. The project, which should be completed by summer 2015, will create a new 1400m² teaching centre with state-of-the-art teaching and IT facilities for a range of curriculum areas, including health & social care, hair and beauty and uniformed services. It will also include a new main entrance and reception area and a complete refurbishment of the existing A and B buildings, with the expansion of the restaurant, social areas and learning resource centre. The Government money will allow the college to cater for several hundred additional students and apprentices and this announcement marks a terrific 2013 for the Isle campus, which has seen the completion of its new £7.2m Technology Centre. In the last year another £440,000 has been invested in new kitchens, changing rooms and carpentry area. Around 2-300 potential students and parents attended Saturday’s open day. It was the first time the Technology Centre had been open to visitors at an open day and Alan Seeley, programme manager for construction, said the day had gone well. Students had been on hand to talk to prospective students and parents about what it offered in terms of construction, plumbing, plastering, motors sports, motor vehicle engineering and paint work, welding, brickwork and plastering, carpentry and other subjects. Mr Seeley said both young people and their parents got much from being able to talk to students themselves at Isle campus about what they were getting from their courses. Elsewhere the campus staff and students were available to talk about the wide range of courses being offered. These included graphic design, art, hair and beauty, photography, IT and uniformed services. When news of the £4.6m contribution from the Government was announced last week Principal David Pomfret said: “This is fantastic news for the college, Wisbech and the Fenland area. “Following the completion of our new Technology Centre last April and further improvements in the summer, this funding will allow us to complete the transformation of the campus and provide some excellent educational and training facilities for Fenland.”