ESFA chief David Withey to become college principal

He will lead a college in the south west when the agency closes in March

He will lead a college in the south west when the agency closes in March

Education and Skills Funding Agency boss David Withey is set to become the chief executive and principal of a college.

The senior civil servant will take on the top role at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) in March 2025 when the agency closes and staff integrate with the Department for Education.

He will replace Kevin Hamblin who has served as SGS CEO since 2001.

Withey became the ESFA’s chief in August 2022, joining from the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia where he was chief operating officer and deputy ​secretary.

Before that he worked on public spending in Treasury departments in the UK and Australia and led the New South Wales COVID economic taskforce.

The government announced in September that the ESFA would shut as an arm’s-length body of the DfE and “integrate” into the core department from March 2025.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said at the time the decision to merge the ESFA with DfE was to “enable a single, joined-up approach to funding and regulation to improve accountability”.

SGS was formed from the merger of Filton and Stroud colleges in 2012. The college has six main campuses where it teaches more than 8,000 students. It was judged as ‘good’ by Ofsted last year.

Withey said: “I’m looking forward to joining the team at SGS and leading the college on behalf of the communities it serves. I‘ve been fortunate to meet some of the brilliant learners, staff and external stakeholders over the past few weeks and I cannot wait to meet more of them once in post.”

SGS chair Matt Atkinson added: “We are thrilled to welcome David to SGS. His impressive leadership career and his strong alignment with the values of SGS make him a perfect fit for the college, as we continue to strive for excellence. David’s experience and strategic leadership abilities will be invaluable as we work towards doing even more for the learners, communities and businesses that we serve.”

The appointment comes after SGS principal Sara-Jane Watkins left to lead the Warwickshire College Group last year.

The SGS board went out to recruitment for a joint principal and CEO in September. The college hired FE Associates, which is run by chair Atkinson, to run the recruitment process.

A spokesperson for the college said FE Associates provided its services at no cost to the college and the issue of a perceived conflict was discussed by the corporation and disclosed to the FE Commissioner.

It was determined that the college “could not receive better value for money through any other route” and chair Atkinson “did not have any operational input into the recruitment process itself”.

‘The college is in a really good place’

Hamblin said that after almost 25 years as principal and CEO of SGS, “I wanted to choose when I stepped away from the college and pass the reins over to the next CEO”.

He told FE Week: “I feel that the college is in a really good place, with a recent successful Ofsted and we are in very sound financial health.

“The SGS college group has recently made the decision to focus back on the college as a single entity, having divested of our interests in our Berkeley Campus to the Chiltern Vital Group.

“SGS has, literally, been my life’s work – to date – and I am delighted that David Withey has been appointed as it couldn’t be in better hands.”

Hamblin added: “I have to say that our staff are brilliant and have been the reason for the successes of the college, frankly.

“I will miss the staff and students of course, but as far as my future is concerned, I will work within the sector on projects which are of interest to me and so will no doubt get my ‘FE fix’ in other ways …. but after a long holiday.”

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