Principal’s Update
We are about to embark on a consultation and creation phase of the new Strategic Plan 2025 to 2029. My plan is for multiple engagements with our 9 main stakeholder groups, led by the SLT and offered online and face-to-face. The first step is with you, my colleagues. At our next whole staff meeting, which will be run twice that day, 31st of May, so that as many staff as possible can attend, we will discuss a vision for the future and consider whether our PRIDE values still are as valid as they were 4/5 years ago. This will then be followed up by sessions in the staff development week where we will go into more detail as focus groups examining risks and opportunities we face as an institution. I will send a brief pre-read before the event so that we can maximise the talking time and outputs.
Simultaneously, The Governing Body and I are in negotiation about establishing a Social and Economic Impact Framework measuring our impact on the island and islanders. This has been on my “to-do” list for a year, but now is the right time with a new Council of Ministers, growing demands for skills delivery and a new campus feasibility study still not off the starting blocks.
College Calendar
13MAY MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK
13MAY BRUNCH & LEARN
13MAY SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING WITH JAMES MATTHEWSON
14MAY ACCESS TO HE OPEN EVENING
16MAY MATHS PAPER 1 (GCSE RE-TAKE)
Please make time to engage with Mental health Awareness Week. This is a busy month with students submitting final assignments and preparing for/taking examinations. Thus will place extra demands on everyone.
For Mathematics, many will have taken GCSE three times at school and are still trying now to pass at grade 4 and above. I expect to see some anxious students in corridors who will benefit from re-assurance from us all, as well as from their tutors and the invigilating teams as always.
The Access to Higher Education Open Evening is part of our renewed efforts to engage with adults. Christine Gavey and her team are looking at a part-time blended course so that more adults can access this important route into Higher Education for 19+ returners to education.
This week at SLT, we have our regular overview of Health and Safety, an update on progress made on the Teaching. Learning and Assessment including Digital and our standards items on external engagements, operational departmental updates and any other business.
Paul Bisson and I met with Dr Pinch last week from Nottingham University to discuss a joint project on voter engagement in Jersey. We are looking to develop programmes for adult and young people to inform them about the political systems, their rights and its impact on their daily lives.
Rob Moy shared the Public Health Jersey’s report on Social Recovery Projects. For Highlands College it said.
- Total allocation: £364,000
- Total spend: £331,937
Project benefits and value realised:
- The training programme played a pivotal role in addressing the needs arising from the pandemic, fostering resilience and promoting social cohesion
- Engagement of groups such as those with learning disability and those Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)
- Reintegration of 15 people disengaged from society and training back into the workforce
Recommendations:
- Develop a strategic plan for the programme’s continued delivery, including a sustainable funding model, resource planning, and stakeholder engagement strategies to ensure long-term success and impact.
This included 49 classes and 530 students, hubs set up in Primary Schools to support parents develop literacy and numeracy skills, a new NEET provision (now Government Plan funded for 2 years) and work with refugee learners.
Congratulations to Rob Moy and Carrie Sandeman who project managed the programmes, Steve Holley, Jo Gueno and Carol Tyrer who delivered them.
This week I have the Higher Education Advisory Board where we will be examining CYPES policy developments which will affect Higher Education. There’s a Secondary Heads meeting with feedback on the terms and conditions review for teachers and lecturers and a SLT session on engaging the public in the new campus communication strategy.
This afternoon, we have The Innes MacLagan Memorial Cup game, organised by Andrew McGinnigle with a series of six-a-side games between staff and students. Best of luck to all competitors and may the staff win 😊.
Best wishes
Jo