End of an era as principal steps down at Weymouth College after ten years

Mrs Moore said her departure in the middle of the college year is ‘totally unrelated’ to the summer’s vote of no confidence in senior management by staff, which was backed by Unison and the University and College Union (UCU).

She said she always planned to retire at the age of 60 and that it was time to move on.

Staff and governors have been informed of Mrs Moore’s decision.

Chairman of governors John Brewster described the decision as ‘disappointing’.

The outgoing principal dismissed the claim that her decision to go might be connected to July’s vote of no confidence ballot, which was presented to the college board of governors by Unison and the UCU and followed repeated redundancies at the college and low staff morale.

In the latest round of job cuts up to 30 posts were lost.

She said: “It’s totally unrelated to that, I don’t want to go down that route.”

She said the college was facing many challenges when she arrived in April 2002 and the whole team worked together to create a ‘sound and educationally innovative college’.

Mrs Moore said: “Although being principal of Weymouth College has been an integral part of my life for almost 10 years, I always knew that when I reached retirement age, that I would take the opportunity to do new things.

“I am looking forward to exploring new ventures and spending more time with my husband, family and friends, especially my three grandchildren.”

Mrs Moore also intends to travel, write, walk the coast, and ‘join the Barmy Army’ – the group of fans that follow the England cricket team around the world.

She said she would miss the staff and students and the college’s leading work in creating training opportunities linked with the Olympics.

She cited her career highlights as helping thousands to gain qualifications and confidence through learning at the college and the ‘successes of managers and staff who have moved on in their careers’.

She added: “I’m here until Christmas, the board will decide what they want to do about my replacement.”

The college’s governing body has also seen changes – former chairman Tony Alford finished his term of office in August and he has been succeeded by John Brewster.

Mr Alford led the governing body, which backed Mrs Moore and her deputy principal Paul Lonsdale following the ballot in July.

At the time Mr Alford said he recognised that the senior team needed to be ‘more visible’.

New chairman John Brewster said: “We are all very disappointed to see Sue leaving. Under Sue’s leadership the college has gone through major improvements over the last 10 years and she leaves a college that now has a sound financial base and has the quality of its provision and the learner experience as its key focus.

“Weymouth College and the entire further education sector face some key challenges over the next few years and we look forward to appointing a new principal that can build on Sue’s success.”

HIGHS AND LOWS OVER PAST DECADE

l February 2002: Governors accept a finance package which includes a £1million overdraft from the bank plus £697,000 from the Learning Skills Council

l April 2002: Sue Moore joins Weymouth College as principal. Previously, she was principal of South Lanarkshire College in Scotland

l 2004: Critical Ofsted report blasts leadership and management and highlights the uncertainties facing staff threatened with redundancy. It says most courses were satisfactory. Sue Moore was providing clear and decisive leadership but much work needed to be done

l 2005: Establishment of Primary College. Enterprises Centres established to support small businesses

l April 2006: Learning Gateway with 150 computers opened

l 2007: Ofsted report rates the college as ‘satisfactory’ but lists a number of areas for improvement

l 2008: The college takes over the management of Redlands Sports Centre

l 2009: Establishment of Careers College February 2009 – Dorset Skills Centre becomes operational in Poundbury

l 2009: The Young Ambassador scheme was launched, along with other Olympic training work including Personal Best and Bridging the Gap Partnerships with universities developed

l June 2010: Lecturers and students joined forces to protest against funding cuts for education. A total of nine lecturers were made redundant with many more taking voluntary redundancy

l 2010: Digital Medial Incubation is established, working alongside the learndirect centre

l October 2010: Ofsted inspectors found overall effectiveness, outcomes for learners, quality of provision and leadership and management were all judged to be satisfactory. Four subject areas were judged to be good but the information and communication technology subject area was inadequate

l 2011: Hive Media Centre established. Engineering investment at the college

l March 2011: College changes its focus to be more of a vocational college

l April 25 2011: Students protest against cuts to A-levels which left Budmouth College as the only A-level provider in the town

l May 2011: Ofsted re-inspection monitoring visit found there had been reasonable progress in the college’s self-assessment and improvement planning, outcomes for learners and quality of provision but there had been insufficient progress for leadership and management and conditions for the dwindling number of information and communication technology (ICT) students had deteriorated further

l May 2011: Jobs axed as college faced the loss of seven per cent of its income budget totalling £1million. A six per cent reduction of staffing, up to 30 jobs, was proposed followed by a 30-day consultation process.

l September 2011: Success rates for 16 to 18-year-old learners have risen from 62 per cent to more than 80 per cent from 2003/4 to date. The college is working with more than 400 employers. The college is currently working with more than 160 apprentices and this figure is expected to rise to more than 200 during the 2011-12 academic year. There are almost 300 14 to 16-year-old learners within Weymouth College, with an 87 per cent success rate A UNION representative said he hoped changes to Weymouth College’s senior management team would result in ‘effective leadership’.

UNION OPTIMISTIC ON FUTURE

UCU spokesman Moray McAulay said: “UCU would like to see effective leadership from the management team in Weymouth College.

“We believe that effective leadership involves listening to the local community and the staff in the college, who both have a stake in the college’s future success.”

He added: “It’s certainly true to say that we consulted widely with our members and they expressed a clear view that they didn’t have confidence in the management handling of what was going on in the college – the redundancies certainly brought the issue to a head.

“There have been massive cuts in further education funding and all colleges in Dorset and beyond are feeling the pinch but Weymouth College has been most affected in terms of redundancy.”

Mr McAulay said as ‘far as he was aware’ no one had yet been lined up to be the new principal.

He added: “We feel the college has a vital role to play in providing educational opportunities for the community and to do that effectively staffing levels have to be maintained.

“Because there’s been such a huge amount of cuts over the last few years I would worry that were there to be future cuts that it would undermine the educational experience.”