Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls MP visited Year 9 students from St Bonaventure's School at Newham Sixth Form College to see the launch of the Diploma in Construction and Built Environment (C&BE).

Over 3,000 students across the country are starting the school term on this brand new qualification.

Mr Balls saw the students designs for the nearby London 2012 site and construct their own model buildings for the Olympic village.

He said: "Education is all about opportunities - a good education opens doors. It is the single best way to do well and to gain the skills to succeed.

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"We have made great inroads in this area and we now have more young people staying on post-16 than ever before, with record GCSE and A Level results.

"I want to see a situation where every single young person has a range of interesting, exciting and challenging options ahead of him or her at every stage of their education, so that they never feel tempted to drop out or give up. This year will see some of the biggest steps towards this goal yet."

The C&BE Diploma, which has been developed by employers, schools, colleges and universities, aims to help young people aged 14 to 19 realise their potential and gain knowledge and skills in a "real world" environment. It can be taken instead of or alongside GCSEs, A-levels and vocational subjects and it aims to equip students with skills they can apply to the next stage of their development; be that university, college or the world of work.

(CD/KMcA)