Principal’s Update
Happy Monday dear colleagues
It was a sad day on Friday when many colleagues attended Gary Aubert’s funeral. Gary at worked for the college for 21 years supporting construction and engineering students as well as staff in his role as a technician. Gary was a quiet and helpful gentleman at work but led a different life as a guitarist in heavy metal bands in Jersey. It was lovely to hear how he had found his niche working here at Highlands College.
Scrutiny visit
Thank you to all those staff who took time out to meet the scrutiny panel for Children Education and Home Affairs when they visited last week. Every staff member they met spoke eloquently and with passion about the work that they do with and for students.
Governing Body
This week we will have members of our Governing Body attending the college for various subcommittees which scrutinise the work that we do. There will also be a full governing body meeting on the 17th October, the first for this term.
I am pleased to say we’ve had a few responses from staff who are interested in joining the Governing Body to represent the voice of support and academic staff here at Highlands College. The Chair of Governors, Julie Acey, supported by Sharon Ward who is Clerk to the Governors will lead the process for appointment.
In the meantime, Dave freeman and Danielle Schenk will continue to fulfil these roles and are your points of contact for feedback. This is a particularly exciting time to be joining the Governing Body as we have a whole development plan to further diversify the Board and to harness the talents of the people who volunteer their time and expertise to be Governing Body Members.
University College Jersey Graduation
This Friday we have Graduation Day for University College Jersey. The graduation will run from 11:00 in the morning at the Town Hall, to well into the afternoon, with celebrations at the Royal Yacht Jersey.
Fingers crossed the sun will shine for the graduates and their friends and family.
UCJ and the events team have been working very hard on this for many months and I have every confidence it will be as spectacular as in previous years. If you can join us, please do so to enjoy some nibbles and a drink. Our staff who have completed teacher training will graduate as well. We are fortunate that MasonBreese cover most of the costs of this event as our main sponsor for UCJ.
This week the Senior Leadership Team has health and safety and utilisation on the planned agenda. We are also reviewing all major projects as we do on 1/2 termly basis to assess whether we stop, start, or continue the work.
For your information, I’ve also asked the Estates team to survey site users coming onto college grounds in their cars. This is to address some safeguarding concerns we have about unknown users on site and at certain pressure points during the week, there is no parking available for students and staff. Coupled with that we have the developments at the Oakfield site and the redevelopment of La Passerelle which will involve additional users at the access and egress points of the campus. There have been some near misses recently and so the survey will demonstrate how much traffic is legitimately on site, or not. Rob Moy has already submitted a business case to introduce car park barriers so we can have oversight of the users of the site and control the risks.
A final thought
I picked up a useful phrase for reframing one’s thoughts on a cold and dark winter morning. Rather than saying I have to get up; I have to get ready for work; I have to do my shopping. I’m trying to say instead I get to get up in the morning; I get to have breakfast; I get to go to work and make a difference. We could all do with a bit of positive thinking at this time of the year.
I hope you have a great week in all your areas and let’s hope the sun shines.
Jo