STUDENTS at Cardiff and Vale College's Barry campus have created a donkey sanctuary at the Amelia Trust Farm, as part of their Fast Forward course's volunteering qualification.

In order to develop the students' confidence, teamwork and employability skills, they were tasked with building a shelter for the donkeys and learning about their various needs.

Students worked on the project over a six-week period, learning about health and safety, cleaning stables, basic care, grooming, walking and generally tending for the four rescued donkeys. They also developed their carpentry skills, building an outside classroom in order to improve the visitor experience.

Two of the students - Kimberly Thomas and Mason Miller - are also currently working on developing a digital interactive guide to the farm.

Seventeen-year-old Mason, from Barry, said: "I feel that the farm was a brilliant experience for me. Working with the donkeys was great and learning more about them and how to look after them on a day to day basis was really interesting.

"Building the shelter was quite fun and useful for the future, particularly learning how to use different tools and how to take measurements.

"It felt good mixing with other people within the group, too."

Education manager at Amelia Trust Farm, Malcolm Jones, said: "The project has been a total success due to having a balance between learning practical skills and animal assisted therapies within a nurturing environment. The students have flourished and have grown in confidence to a point that other younger people aged 14-16 at the Farm, have now been inspired to follow the same path and attend college."

Applications are currently open to join the college in September 2017. For more information, visit Facebook.com/CardiffandValeCollege, Instagram @cavcinsta or Twitter @cavc.