Author: FE Week Reporter

Lewisham Southwark College is set for a new principal and chief executive in Newcastle College’s Carole Kitching this summer. She is due to take over in July, replacing the current interim leadership team of Jo Lomax and Ioan Morgan (both pictured below right). Ms Kitching, who joined Newcastle College as assistant principal in 2011 and was […]

Skills Minister Nick Boles plans to open discussions with the Treasury about a possible VAT exemption for sixth form colleges. Responding to an education question in the House of Commons from Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins about the issue today, Mr Boles said he was prepared to discuss the matter with the “fierce” Treasury. Mr Boles […]

The Sunday Times Festival of Education has confirmed FE Week and FE Week as a 2015 media partner. The annual festival will be taking place on June 18 and 19 at Berkshire-based Wellington College and more than 100 speakers from across the world of education and training and beyond have already been confirmed. After being confirmed […]

UPDATE – Monday, January 19, 2015 A drawn-out strike could be averted and one of the most long running FE employment disputes in recent memory brought to a close as union members consider an offer made by Lambeth College. University and College Union (UCU) members at the London college walked out indefinitely today, but the […]

Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue has said that it’s for to colleges to decide if his organisation delivered value for money as he unveiled an impact report containing no assessment of how it had spent £3.5m-plus of public funds. The former North Hertfordshire College principal spoke exclusively to FE Week about the positive Gazelle-commissioned report and […]

An online conman who sold fake City & Guilds and OCR certificates from his Darlington cul-de-sac home has been sentenced 80 hours of unpaid work. Edexcel, AQA and Ofqual logos were also used by Martin Bowman as he produced the counterfeit paperwork. However, Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard that most of his customers asked for refunds […]

A third general FE college is set to take over a school whose academy chain sponsor has been hit with two financial notices to improve (FNTI) by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) since 2013. South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) has announced it will become the new sponsor of Forest Academy, formerly Heywood Community School, in Cinderford […]

Skills Funding Agency (SFA) director Keith Smith (pictured) has apologised to providers about a shock clawback warning that caused “sleepless nights” among sector staff, FE Week can reveal. More than 700 providers were contacted by Una Bennett, deputy director for funding systems for the SFA, before Christmas with warning that they would have to repay against […]

The Prime Minister reached new heights when he visited a Nottingham provider to find out more about apprenticeships, writes Rebecca Cooney. David Cameron took a tour of Skills Funding Agency-registered East Midlands Roofing College and tried roofing for himself. And he wasn’t slated for his efforts either — 26-year-old former apprentice Linden Blackwood said: “He […]