🔹Principal’s Update
Happy new term to everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed some sunshine over the Easter break and were able to relax and spend quality time with friends and family.
As usual, we look forward to a very busy term with students heading into final assessments, exams, and award ceremonies to celebrate their overall achievements – not just academically, but more importantly, their development as young people and adults.
This week, the Senior Leadership Team will be focus on staffing, finance, and a review of exam access arrangements. There is a trend of students not using the exam access arrangements set up for them, so Exams and Learning Support have investigated why this is happening in some cases.
Head of UCJ Recruitment
The summer term will see us begin the search for our new Head of Department for University College Jersey. This is a crucial role for the college and one that will play an important part in the strategic growth of the department. The vacancy will be advertised both on and off the island, and we’re predicting a broad range of interest in the position. Kate will continue to oversee the department in the interim period, with the support of Andrew and Laura. Please share the advert on your LinkedIn profile to raise sector awareness once it goes live.
University of Sussex
This year marks the end of our partnership with the University of Sussex on the Social Work degree. On 4th April, Jess Garner, Kate Hobbs, and Laura Simpson attended the final Strategic Steering Group meeting, which will draw the partnership to a close. It was great to hear such positive feedback from the university about the maturity of the programme and the impact of our community values within UCJ and the wider sector community. I would like to thank Jess and Laura for their hard work and commitment, which has enabled the programme to grow and develop. As we move into our third year with the University of Plymouth, the challenges around funding and support continue, but we can be very proud of the high-quality teaching, learning, and assessment.
Budgets
We are overspent by about £250K against our expected staffing budget. Some of this shortage is due to late funding coming in to cover the costs of apprenticeships. Hopefully, this will be rectified soon so that we can continue to offer the programme to employers.
Staffing
Can I please remind all colleagues that if you are applying for special leave, the application must come to my office via Sam Clarke. Before applying, please refresh your memory regarding the number of allocated days, paid or unpaid, you may be entitled to. We will try to support applications but must ensure the smooth running of services for students, particularly during term time.
Succession Planning Project
This Friday, I will be launching the Succession Planning Project for 2025 at Heads of Department. As over 50% of our staff are near retirement age, we are looking at opportunities for staff to develop themselves and seek promotion within the organisation, should they wish to apply. One of the aims of the project is to avoid what we’ve experienced before, where a difficult-to-replace role has left a vacancy gap in a crucial area of service operations.
This week, I will be joining other Headteachers and Principals for a webinar on “Putting Marginalized Learners at the Heart of Quality Improvement”. I will also be meeting with Phil Romeril to discuss my part in the Longevity conference, which is being held next month. I will be addressing the subject of “Lifelong Learning: The Gift that Keeps on Giving.” Our students will be attending too.
Can I also take this opportunity to remind Heads of Department to notify Tyler Le Masurier, our HR Business Partner, of any absences during the week. I know these will have been notified to your line manager and on MyView, but we need real-time data to see where the pressure points are across the College.
I hope you have a great week full of sunshine and laughter.
With best wishes,
Jo