Billy Camden

  • 'I've never experienced anything like this': Shrewsbury College in grade 4 battle

    A college is battling Ofsted to prevent the publication of a grade four report after inspectors claimed to have found serious safeguarding failures. Shrewsbury Colleges Group, which teaches more than 9,000 students mostly aged 16 to 18, is set to receive an ‘inadequate’ rating following an inspection in November. But the college has insisted the…

    8.05 Jan. 17th, 2020 | News

  • Investigation: Highest principals’ pay plummets

    The top ten highest college salaries have dropped by an average of more than £50,000 after six of the principals left, an FE Week investigation has found. The single biggest cut totalled £136,000 – from £294,000 to £158,000 – after a change in leadership at North Hertfordshire College. Of the four colleges where the principal…

    7.00 Jan. 17th, 2020 | News

  • FE is a 'ticking time bomb', says college chief

    Further education is a “ticking time bomb” and more colleges will have to close campuses unless government gets serious about investment in the sector, the boss of Cornwall College has said. John Evans made the comments in an interview with FE Week after news broke this week that his group was to sell-off its 35-year-old…

    5.00 Jan. 17th, 2020 | News

  • Reformed BTECs still produce higher grades than A-levels

    Students still get higher marks in reformed BTECs than in A-levels – but the gap has closed, new analysis shows. But research from FFT Education Datalab shows many schools and colleges are still delivering the old BTEC qualifications, even though they are no longer included in performance tables. The blogpost, published today, reveals that just…

    12.55 Jan. 17th, 2020 | News

  • Cornwall campus closure – MP demands government probe

    The local Conservative MP for Saltash has called for a government investigation into Cornwall College Group after it announced plans to sell-off a campus in her constituency. Sheryll Murray wrote to education secretary Gavin Williamson this week after being “so disappointed” to hear the site was closing down. She said it was “particularly disappointing” considering…

    5.00 Jan. 17th, 2020 | News

  • Suspended principal to leave earlier than planned

    A college principal who was suspended following government intervention has brought forward her retirement date. Stella Mbubaegbu announced today that she will officially leave Highbury College at the end of April 2020, instead of July 2020. The college said she has decided to leave early to “enable the college to accelerate the search for her…

    10.22 Jan. 16th, 2020 | News

  • Williamson pledges to work ‘hand in glove’ with sector to argue for more funding

    Education secretary Gavin Williamson has pledged to work “hand in glove” with the sector to argue for further investment in 16 to 19 education. But he stated he was unable to make any firm commitments on future funding in the address to the Sixth Form Colleges Association winter conference this morning. “I will be very…

    15.30 Jan. 15th, 2020 | News

  • Five colleges handed DfE warnings over finances

    Five colleges have been hit with a notice to improve by the government this afternoon, after they were all assessed to have poor financial health and leadership. They are for: Kensington and Chelsea College, Richmond upon Thames College, East Sussex College Group, Gateshead College and Highbury College. Two others, Havering College of Further and Higher…

    14.15 Jan. 15th, 2020 | News

  • New culture of 'openness and trust' paves way for KCC merger

    An embattled London college has announced it will officially merge next month, after the FE Commissioner found a new culture of “openness, transparency and trust”. Kensington and Chelsea College will join with Morley College on 3 February. The resolution follows a governing body meeting last night, and the outcome of Richard Atkins’ final monitoring visit…

    10.46 Jan. 15th, 2020 | News

  • Saltash to lose campus as Cornwall College desperate to save millions

    A large college group in the south west is to sell-off a 35-year-old campus in order to balance the books. Cornwall College Group, which last year secured a £30 million government bailout to drive forward a “fresh start” business plan, will close its site in Saltash in July. A total of 74 jobs are at…

    14.11 Jan. 14th, 2020 | News

  • DfE to develop ‘alternative arrangements’ in case UK leaves Erasmus+

    The Department for Education is to develop its own “alternative arrangements” for international education exchanges in case the UK drops out of Erasmus+, Gavin Williamson has said. Speaking in the House of Commons, the education secretary said his department was “open” to future participation in the programme, but that arrangements for after Brexit would be…

    15.39 Jan. 14th, 2020 | News