Falmouth Marine School have axed their Watersports Instructor course just days before the students are set to end for the summer.

The 18 students enrolled in the first year of the course, who are nearly finished with about a week to go - were shocked and saddened to be told that the course had been cut due to funding, and they won't be returning for the following scheduled year.

They were told in person by Curriculum Lead, Jamie Crisp, after finishing an exam Tuesday of last week. Parents were alerted by a letter three days later.

There are also 16 students who had already enrolled to start the course in the next academic year that have now had to start rethinking their options in this late stage.

A large attraction to the course was the opportunity for students who failed their Maths and English GCSE's to retake them alongside the rest of the qualification.

The course put aside a couple of days a week to practise for these GCSE retakes.

The students who retook their GCSE Maths and English are now hoping they have passed, as they will no longer have a chance to retake in the following year due to the axe.

The school has offered the students a place on a sports diploma at Camborne or Duchy, something that the parents nor the students are happy with.

Nub News Falmouth spoke to Fay Fleming, the mother of a student who is about to finish his first year on the course, she said:

"It's horrific what they have done. They made a commitment to these kids to get them their level 1, 2 and 3 qualification. It was a gateway to employment or university - now they've just pulled the rug from underneath them.

"It's the way they have done it two weeks before the course finished. They haven't given these kids a chance to figure out what else they want to do, not that they wanted to do anything else.

'The kids aren't interested in sports courses, they've signed up for the course because that's what they've always wanted to do.

"My boy has been wanting to be in the watersports industry for as long as I can remember. He started swimming at an early age, always visited swimming and sailing camps, did volunteering at age 13 and 14.

"When the time came that he could actually get a qualification in what he loved he was over the moon, and so were we - now it's just been taken from him and all the other students".

The course is the only one of its kind in the United Kingdom that is offered with Government funding.

A Facebook group has been made in order to raise awareness to this closure by the parents and students, in the hope that the school will reconsider. You can look at this by pressing the button below.

A spokesperson for Falmouth Marine School, told Nub News Falmouth:

"We are in active discussion with parents and students and looking for a solution that works for everyone involved.

"All students who completed the course have found work in the watersports industry, and as The Career College for the South West, we are committed to getting people into rewarding careers while supporting the communities we serve.

"Colleges across the UK are tackling a 30% reduction in funding over the last decade, so courses that aren't financially viable will always be under scrutiny.

"Despite this, we are determined to ensure that we achieve a solution that is in the best interests of our students and our local community."