Education leaders have welcomed the "rebirth" of an arts college.

MidKent College is opening a new art school to coincide with the closure of the University for the Creative Arts' (UCA) campus in Rochester.

The new college will initially offer a foundation diploma in art and design, a post-A level qualification.

The college has yet to secure a premises for the Medway School of Arts but hopes to have done this by June in order to welcome around 100 students by September.

The venture - in partnership with the University of Kent’s Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries and Medway Council - was officially unveiled during an event yesterday (Monday, January 16) at MidKent College's campus in Gillingham.

Those behind the initiative hope to open a community hub within the school, with studios and production suites for hire.

There would also be co-working space for creative start ups and room to host exhibitions.

Jim Mawby, the college's executive director for curriculum and quality, said: "There's some really exciting things going on in the creative industry in Medway.

"It's a growth sector so we really want to make sure that we are providing the education to keep up with the industry and growing demand.

"We don't want to see any provision disappear from the region so any area where we think there's an educational need, we will try and fill that gap.

He added: "I think it would be a mistake to think that we don't need the creative sector.

"It is what we have seen with our young people, with students coming in. There's some real incredible talent, and we want to foster and support that.

"I think it would be a huge loss if we weren't able to do that as a general community."

Clare Roach, creative arts higher education centre lead, said: "There are a lot of students who live and study in Medway, and maybe because of financial reasons or because they want to stay closer to home and family, they want to be able to study locally."

The college hasn't got an estimated cost for the project yet.

Mr Mawby said whilst he cannot currently confirm where the school will be based, there are a "number of options which would be suitable".

The arts courses currently running at MidKent College will continue and the college hopes the Medway School of Arts will begin running degree-level courses from September 2024.

The history of arts education in the Towns goes right back to Victorian times; the Rochester School of Art was set up in 1886 within what is now the Guildhall Museum.

UCA's campus in Fort Pitt will close this September. The building was opened in 1970.

Asked whether MidKent College had plans to take over the facility, Mr Mawby said: "We haven't had those conversations. The space there is larger than the scale that we're looking at.

"Also, the creative activity and industry is moving more along the river so we don't want to just focus on that end of things, we want to have a more central location."

The University of Kent is due to open the Docking Station within Chatham Historic Dockyard in 2025.

Medway Council won millions of pounds of investment from the government's Levelling Up Fund to work with the university to convert a Grade-II listed former police house into a creative facility.

The project will also see the refurbishment of the Fitted Rigging House which will provide commercial space for creative businesses.

Asked about whether the new school could retain staff from the existing UCA site, Mr Mawby said the college has its own staff and there had been talks with the University of Kent to collaborate with their teachers.

He said there hadn't been any talks with UCA about staffing, adding: "I think the reality is that as we grow, we will absolutely be needing more teachers but it's hard to say 'from September, we will need this many people'.

"We are more than interested in talking to people who have taught in the sector, who have taught higher education because there will definitely be opportunities within the next few years."