Honiton Community College is hoping to bring a woodland area “back to life” to enhance learning opportunities.

A woodland area located within Honiton Community College is to be brought “back to life” to help enhance learning opportunities for students.

Work is currently under way to transform the site into a woodland nature area.

The site, which is located alongside the A30 layby, has previously been used as a dumping ground by passing motorists.

It was added to the college’s grounds by Devon County Council when the college became an academy in July 2011.

The college’s director of finance, Gary Wills, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to take what was a derelict piece of scrap woodland and rejuvenate it in order to create an area that can be used by the students and teachers as an outdoor learning facility and space for the students to get back to nature.”

The college enlisted the help of the probation service in Devon who provided a workforce to clear away the debris and rubbish over four days.

The college will secure the woodland area by installing a large fence to ensure no more rubbish is disposed of on the site. Planning permission is currently being sought.

Once secure, the students will be invited make suggestions on how they would like to see the area used. Initial discussions with the college’s Eco Council, which is made of up students, put forward ideas including a pond area, fire pit and keeping pigs, which was one of the most popular suggestions.

Mr Wills added: “We have done a great deal of work so far to bring this scrap woodland back to life but in order to see it come into more meaningful use we could use some help from the community, particularly with providing the areas the children have already identified.”

Anyone who would like to help is urged to call the college on 01404 42283.