A CAREER-BOOSTING £3 million studio school in Ashburton for future designers, engineers and architects has been given the provisional go ahead by the government.

The Atrium Studio School will be only the second seat of learning of its type in the south west when it opens its doors to 375 teenage students in the autumn of next year.

It is a big feather in the cap of the town's South Dartmoor Academy whose directors revealed the Secretary of State's 'in principle' agreement to the ambitious project earlier this week.

Once up and running, the specialist purpose-built facility on the academy's Balland Lane site will accommodate 13-18-year-old students studying a range of subjects from architecture, ecology and structural and civil engineering to surveying, construction and planning.