The college has won two prestigious national awards for its work with young people with complex disabilities and learning difficulties.

The Gloucestershire-based charity, National Star, was named specialist provider of the year at the TES Further Education Awards.

The judges described National Star as "an inspiring place" that puts its learners at the centre of everything it does.

It was rated "outstanding" by Ofsted in January 2018, when inspectors said senior leaders and managers had "successfully sustained the culture of high standards" while teachers, learning support assistants and other staff "prepare students for adult life very effectively and, consequently, the quality of their lives improves".

The judges for the TES (formerly known as the Times Educational Supplement) said: "They (National Star) are swimming against the tide by sticking to what they do best - and doing it better than the rest."

The college provides a wide range of personal development and vocational courses, ranging from pre-entry to level 2, for 119 residential and 112-day students. In 2018, the college hosted FestABLE, the first national conference for specialist education, attracting delegates from all over the UK.

The charity works with learners who traditionally do not have the opportunities to work through international collaboration due to the level and range of their disabilities.

The project has enabled Greek and UK learners to develop employability skills through working in social enterprises and enabled Greek teachers to work with UK job mentors to improve their professional practice within employment support services.

David Ellis, chief executive of National Star, said: 'The awards were testament to the commitment of the charity's 1,000 staff.

"The outstanding work that our staff all do - at every level - has enabled the charity to be recognised in this way,

"That, and the fact that National Star has a strong values-led culture, makes the organisation quite special. I am very proud of the National Star team."