Weston College Wins AoC Award for Excellence in Governance

Weston College has been recognised on the national stage by winning the prestigious Association of College’s (AoC) Award in Excellence in Governance for its innovative and inclusive governance model. The College has achieved impressive growth, increasing from £9m in 2001 to approximately £71m at present, while remaining in surplus throughout. The College's governance model places the Principal's inclusive vision at the heart of its strategic plan, leading to cross-college outcomes consistently above national benchmarks, with a SEND specialism developed - as a national SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Centre for Excellence.

The College has also shown further innovation by demystifying governance and developing 'elasticity' in governance when responding to increased risk and project complexity. This includes new risk-assessed approaches, such as putting employers front and centre within its Institute of Technology (IoT) governance model and a new 'sustainability/social action framework.'

The College has also used an innovative Careers Excellence Hub Charter to bind its 14 Career Excellence Hubs together for a collective White Paper vision to ensure that no one gets left behind. The College's Chair of Governors, Andrew Leighton Price, stated that ‘winning such a national award is a tremendous accolade for the whole organisation, and recognises the College’s unique approach to all that it does.’

Additionally, the College was recognised as a finalist for The Nous Group Award for Education for Sustainable Development, where it was acknowledged for its impressive impact over a 10-year sustained period, as an early green skills pioneer/adopter of social action investing c£50m to create state of the art campuses to BREEAM designs.

The College's impressive student immersion is also using conference summit style learning to link student-led social action with collaborative campaigns, such as #LetsGoNetZero and ‘WeAreWeston’ to build a more sustainable, dynamic community. Its work on green careers and responsiveness to upskilling for decarbonisation as the lead for the West of England IoT, was also recognised by judges of the award. Key to the College's success has been the inspirational leadership from Sir Paul Phillips, who has created a drive for sustainability which also has levelling up at its heart - creating an ethos that puts the learner first in all that the College does.

"I am delighted for the College to be recognised for its inclusive charge towards Net Zero and also for its robust approach to governance. The Association of Colleges’ Beacon Awards celebrate the best and most innovative practice amongst UK colleges each year, and both categories recognise our inclusive approach to deliver outstanding teaching and learning, in order to equip people with the skills to succeed in a global economy - whilst also recognising our strategy to create real world learning using an employer led approach."

Mark White, Interim Chair of AoC’s Charitable Trust said: ‘The AoC Beacon Awards showcase exactly why colleges are so important to every community and why people value them. The work of the winning colleges shows how important colleges are in providing students with the necessary skills for the real world.’

Above: Presentation of the AoC Award for Excellence in Governance (National Winner)

Below: Presentation of the Nous Group Award for Education for Sustainable Development (National Runner UP)

A special thank you to John Penrose MP Weston Super Mare, who attended the AoC Beacon Awards presentation, showing strong support for the skills agenda for the UK.