Sarah Clarke has been appointed principal of Sheffield’s second University Technical College (UTC).
The new £10m UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park campus will open in September and will cater for 600 students, aged 14 to 19, specialising in human sciences and computing.
Ms Clarke, who starts in post in March, said: “I feel privileged to lead such an exciting new facility that is building on the success of Sheffield’s first UTC. Both institutions offer students high quality technical as well as traditional academic qualifications, so they get the skills that employers need to grow.”
Ms Clarke has held a variety of senior roles in education for 11 to 18-year-olds across Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Prior to joining UTC Sheffield, she was principal and vice principal at Landau Forte Academy Sixth Form, West Midlands.
Jason Pepper, executive director of finance and resources at The Sheffield College, which is the lead sponsor of both of the city’s UTCs, said: “The appointment of a principal for Sheffield’s second UTC marks a significant milestone in the project’s progress. As the lead sponsor, we are delighted to welcome Sarah to the UTC Sheffield team.”
Meanwhile, Sat Bains has joined grade one-rated apprenticeship training provider Aspire, Achieve, Advance (3aaa) as its new chief executive.
He joins from the commercial sector where he has “built a reputation of success through his innovative style and unrelenting energy”.
“I am excited and energised to have joined 3aaa at a period when apprenticeships are playing such a strategic part of the government’s skills agenda,” said Mr Bains.
“To join a dynamic forward thinking senior team and board will provide a platform to take the business to the next level and ensure that we offer more young people and employers an opportunity to enhance young lives and the businesses within which they are employed.”
At the same time, Stewart Segal will be become director of strategy, policy and funding at 3aaa after stepping down as chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).
Mr Segal, who will leave the AELP at the end of March, said: “I’ve been working on policy issues around apprenticeships for many years, and this was just an opportunity, with the apprenticeship policy established now, with the levy, to work more closely with a training provider, more directly, to help put those policies into practice and to get a bit closer to the delivery side.”
Mr Segal was one of the original directors and then worked with AELP as the funding and contracting expert for 10 years before becoming chief executive in 2013.
Peter Marples and Di McEvoy-Robinson, founders and joint owners of 3aaa, said: “We are absolutely delighted to announce these two complimentary appointments. We have invested heavily in the business over the past five years and these appointments are further commitment of this.”
Both appointments will also join the board of 3aaa alongside chairman Derek Mapp and chair of quality and standards sub group, Sir Howard Newby, as well as Mr Marples and Ms McEvoy-Robinson.
And Fintan Donohue has retired from his role as chief executive of the Gazelle Colleges Group after more than four years at the helm.
The troubled group, which dropped from a high of 23 member colleges to just 10 during Mr Donohue’s time at the head, said the chief executive role “will not be replaced at this point in time”.
The group added that Stella Mbubaegbu will continue as chair and Carolyn Chapman-Lees continues to support the network as executive director.
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