West London College – Chair of the Corporation

West London College is a further education college with three centres located in Ealing, Hammersmith and Southall. For nearly 150 years, we have been providing training and development in the area, helping over 10,000 students achieve their career goals each year.

We are seeking a new Chair of the Corporation to lead and shape the strategic direction of the College, inspiring and motivating governors to work together to accomplish the College’s ambitious strategic objectives. This voluntary and unremunerated role requires a commitment to the mission, vision and values of West London College. The Chair will provide leadership and direction to the Board, ensuring high standards of governance, focusing on the needs of learners and communities and will work closely with the CEO/Principal. You will need to be highly effective in a non-executive leadership role across both frontline delivery and financial functions.

Dear colleague,

Chair of the Corporation

Thank you for your interest in the role of Chair of the Corporation at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College. The Corporation is the governing body of our College, which operates from three locations: Southall Community College, Ealing Green College and Hammersmith & Fulham College. We have deep roots in the diverse communities that we serve and provide life-changing opportunities to learners and apprentices alike.

Having recently agreed an ambitious new strategic plan around a mission of ‘Aiming High, Changing Lives’, our new Chair will play a vital role in realising our vision of being a vibrant, innovative, diverse and sustainable college empowering learners to succeed and positively impact society. The College has many strengths and firm foundations on which we can build an even better College through an engaging curriculum offer which fully meets the skills, employment and economic needs of West London and beyond.

Some of our recent milestones include three successive years of ‘Good’ financial health, a very positive monitoring visit from Ofsted in February 2024 and an external governance review which found that our governing body was “well-organised, committed, positive, challenging and ambitious” with a supportive and enquiring governing culture. The role of Chair is key to ensuring that culture continues to develop in line with the needs of the College.

Our Board includes governors from a wide range of backgrounds, some of which are commercially focused and others from educational backgrounds. Chairs of further education governing bodies play an important role in leading the Board. They work in partnership with the Chief Executive Officer/Principal (a role which is often combined) and the governance professional to shape the work of the Board and ensure that it fulfils its obligations under our governing documents, guidance from our funding bodies and the law.

Further education colleges are ‘exempt charities’ operating within the public sector. Our principal regulator is the Department for Education, and we have close links to the Greater London Authority, the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham and local employers. You will contribute to the maintenance and strengthening of these crucial partnerships. In order to do this, our Chair will need to demonstrate a strong appreciation of regulatory systems in a challenging external environment.

As Chair, you will be able to inspire and motivate governors to work together to accomplish the College’s ambitious strategic objectives as set out in our strategic plan. You will need to bring perspective to Board discussion and share our focus on the needs of our learners and communities. We are fortunate to have a strong governing body and as Chair you can help encourage them to bring their experience and ideas to bear in the interests of the College. From a technical perspective, you will need to be highly effective in a non-executive leadership role across both frontline delivery and financial functions.

If you decide to apply, we hope that you will share our passion for the transformative role that colleges can play in so many people’s lives. You may have gained experience in a different sector and be keen to transfer your skills to further education.

We have appointed FE Associates to assist us in our search for our new Chair. If you are considering making an application, we ask that you arrange an initial conversation with Amanda Hart to discuss the role in greater detail.

Yours faithfully

Karen Redhead OBE
Chief Executive and Principal