Home / Roles / Chair of the Board of Governors | Croydon College
Chair of the Board of Governors Croydon College
Could you be the new Chair of the Board of Governors at Croydon College, an organisation deeply rooted within its local area with a vision to create a diverse, ambitious community in which every student can create a career which achieves their potential and contributes to the world?
* Location: Croydon, South London
Who we are.
Croydon College was formed from a merger between Croydon College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College in 2019. Both Colleges continue to deliver high-quality education, building on their proud history of serving the local community whilst becoming an anchor institution for the local area.
Our College consists of two campuses in South London offering distinctly different provisions. Our Croydon Campus provides general further education with a focus on vocational and skills education, and our Coulsdon Campus is the home of our sixth form college. We offer a wide range of provision, including vocational and academic programmes for young people, courses for adults to upskill or retrain, higher education, apprenticeships, and a specific curriculum for learners with high needs.
Led by Caireen Mitchell, Principal & Chief Executive, we strive to achieve our organisational mission of Creating Careers as set out in our new strategic plan (2024-2029). Through this mission, we seek to achieve our aim of helping our students and staff create their future careers whilst striving to be the best we can be.
In total, we provide education for over 6,000 learners from Entry level to Level 6, a great majority of whom come from within the London Borough of Croydon. The Borough itself is the largest and one of the most diverse boroughs in the capital. It is a place that faces a range of challenges relating to deprivation, disadvantage and relatively low educational attainment. With this in mind, our senior leaders and the c.500 staff who work at our College are all committed to a shared purpose: to transform lives in Croydon and the surrounding areas by equipping students with the knowledge, skills and capabilities to create careers and play their part in society.
Our Governing Body plays a vital role in supporting and challenging our senior leaders to address areas which need improvement and have become a truly motivating and supportive presence for the wider organisation, led by our outgoing Chair, Ian Valvona.
About the role.
We believe that this will be an interesting time to be a part of our College as we embark on a new and exciting chapter in our organisational history: a chapter filled with ambition, to be defined by further improvement, more growth and even more positive impacts for our local communities.
As Chair, you will have a responsibility to ensure the Governing Body upholds the educational character of Croydon College whilst working with our Director of Governance to ensure that, as an organisation, we are acting in accordance with our governing documents and national regulatory frameworks. Alongside this will be your responsibility to collaborate with Committee Chairs and senior leaders to ensure that agendas are effective and meetings are run efficiently with full engagement and contribution encouraged.
Our new Chair will play a vital role not only in leading our Governing Body but also in offering their expertise as an experienced strategic leader, supporting and advising our senior leadership team as they navigate the many challenges and opportunities they will face in the years ahead.
Who we are looking for.
We are looking to engage candidates to become our new Chair and lead our governing body with enthusiasm, energy and dedication. You will be innovative in your thinking, curious in your questioning and bring your growth mindset to share in our ambitions. Like all of our Governors, you will understand our longer-term vision and share our aspirations and ambitions for both the College and our students.
Our new Chair will need to have previous board experience, preferably in a leadership role such as Chair, Vice Chair or Committee Chair. Coupled with this experience, you will bring a keen understanding of our local ecosystem and be able to appreciate the impact that our College can have on the communities that we serve while also understanding how local demographics and economics impact the decisions we take.
Furthermore, you will be a values-led leader, not only being able to demonstrate our organisational values but also those related to good governance. You will have an ability to lead a committed and collegiate group of governors with an ambition to set the tone of our organisational culture while fostering an inclusive team ethos that promotes governors’ abilities to offer respectful support and scrutiny in the roles of critical friends.
Expectations and commitment.
Our Governing Body meets a minimum of four times per year in person. Our meetings are held outside of the working day from 6 pm and always take place on a Wednesday.
We hold two strategy days per year in March and December, one at each campus, and our board meetings are incorporated into these.
As well as leading our Governing Body as Chair, the appointed candidate will be asked to join a number of committees, which may include Finance and Resources, Learning and Quality, Search and Governance and Remuneration. These Committees meet in person three times a year and a schedule for these is available in the key documents section of this site.
It is anticipated that our new Chair will need to be able to dedicate between three to four days per month. As we continue on our journey of improvement, it is expected that in the early part of your term of office, the commitment could be slightly more. The time you need to dedicate will be influenced by meeting schedules, academic cycles, and other ad-hoc support needs. As with any Chair role, a key aspect of this role will be flexibility and accessibility. Governors are asked to commit to a four-year term of office.
Peridot Partners and Croydon College are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
If you would like to know more about this role please contact Dan Baxter
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