Whitson is behind us and now we have about 4 to 8 weeks of frenzied activity to bring us to the end of the summer term. This period of multiple assignment assessment, public examinations etc. is never easy and I know that it also accompanies much celebration of student success. It would be remiss of me not to mention the recent show in the Winter Gardens Pavilion organised by Sandra Bull et al., where a packed audience saw students gaining awards, plus the work of a celebrity hairdresser. Congratulations to everyone involved in this.

Despite the grim stories we hear about the FE sector nationally, the College has done extremely well in winning contracts and continuing to raise its profile. Staff continue to do a brilliant job in the main and I have to say I have been quite touched at the number of good staff who left us a short while ago for another local college who have returned or are about to return to us in the near future. Comments relating to our ethos, care and putting the learner first have permeated the feedback. I don’t profess for one moment that we are perfect, in fact we have a long way to go, but if you put the learner first, look after your staff and resources then you are in with a chance!

The College as you know put in a bid for an Institute of Technology and I am pleased to say that we have got through to stage 2, we also bid to be a T Level pilot deliverer in IT/Digital, and have been again successful and have won a major contract with Wessex Water in the last few weeks.

I am immensely grateful for everyone who has been involved in this and other work. As I have said before, it is not just about winning contracts, it is about delivering them to the highest level and then retaining them! The College is therefore spinning many plates and nobody should underestimate the complexity of what we face.

Restructuring and change is inevitable in our sector although I would love to get a short space of time to just have time to reflect, but that sadly is not in our gift. We have had clear evidence of the need for adaptation and I can confirm that we appointed John O’Connell from Shrewsbury College to lead the Creative Arts and Design faculty from September this year. Mark Barnett will lead the new faculty of Engineering and IT, and at present Bobbie Swift is leading the Education, Health and Lifestyle faculty. I still anticipate further faculty change once the new building programme at Loxton Campus completes. I can also confirm that the new Health and Active Living Skills Centre is underway with the contractors (Midas) already on site. I must also note my grateful thanks to Wayne Richards who has had oversight of the CAD faculty as well as the Sixth Form over the last 12 months.

Our staff meeting is scheduled for Friday 6th July where lunch will be available between 13:00-14:00 followed by the staff meeting at 14:15 in the Winter Gardens Pavilion.

In this meeting I will provide you with some key updates relating in particular to:

• Government agenda for FE
• Our progress for the 2017/18 year
• Remuneration
• Capital projects
• A special feature on ‘top decile’. I mentioned at Easter the important of this and I would hope to at least give you an indication of how each area of the College has done in this respect.

In terms of offender learning, we continue to advance our bidding for future provision, we again have got through the initial stage, but it could be Christmas before we know where we are with this work. Staff at all levels have been fantastic and well done to the team at Exeter Prison for their excellent Ofsted result. This was no mean task given the issues at the prison not related to education!

I look forward to seeing you all in the near future to update you on progress.

Thank you for all you do for the College and myself.

Dr Paul Phillips, CBE

Principal & Chief Executive