Principal
Writtle College

Competitive Salary

Closing date: 9am on Tuesday 7 January 2025

Interview date:  week commencing Monday 20 January 2025

Nestled in the Essex countryside, our 150-hectare campus in Writtle features beautiful, landscaped gardens and state-of-the-art facilities. Our courses offer a gateway to success in specialised fields such as sport, agriculture, horticulture, animal studies, equine studies, conservation and floristry. As part of a global university, we are transforming lives through innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial education and research.

We are seeking an exceptional leader from an FE background with a clear vision and direction to lead the College during a transformational stage of its journey. Following the successful merger earlier this year with Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), this is a great opportunity for an incoming Principal to build on solid foundations to expand and develop our FE portfolio.

The successful candidate will be an inspirational leader with a proven track record in further education, capable of driving academic excellence and fostering a supportive and inclusive learning environment. You will work collaboratively with the university to create shared services to benefit staff, students and stakeholders to enhance our educational offerings and community impact.

We have appointed FE Associates to support us with this crucial appointment. Prior to submitting an application, interested parties are advised to arrange an initial conversation with our recruitment partner, by emailing Amanda.Hart@fea.co.uk, to discuss the role before the closing date.

Dear colleague,

Principal

Thank you for your interest in the role of Principal at Writtle College in Essex. This is an exciting time to join the leading land-based college in the UK. With new key foundations laid through the merger with Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), our college has a continuing great future ahead. There has never been a better time to join us.

We are seeking an exceptional leader from an FE background who will drive our strategic direction and operational management of the curriculum, strengthen our land-based provision and continue to develop our FE provision while ensuring our student experience and outcomes remain at the heart of everything we do.

The board has a vision to grow Writtle College into a truly sustainable land-based college. We need our Principal to be an ambitious, inspirational and visible leader with highly effective people leadership, influencing skills and a relentless focus on improving the lives of students and enabling them to reach their true potential.

Our next Principal will need to lead the College on to its next stage of the journey to success playing an active role in regional economic development, by developing collaboration and innovation to provide students with work-focused and enterprising skills, that employers need and desire.

This role requires a solid background in further education, a hands-on approach, and the ability to inspire and motivate staff and students alike. We believe that for our College to flourish and realise the success we are planning for, the person appointed will need to be a proven FE sector leader well-versed in the nuances of our sector, its policies, funding methodologies and curriculum specialisms.

Building relationships that add value to an organisation will come naturally to you. We expect you to have a great deal of experience managing major stakeholder relations and acting as a lead ambassador and spokesperson.

We have appointed FE Associates to support us with this crucial appointment. Prior to submitting an application, interested parties are advised to arrange an initial discussion with our recruitment partner, by emailing Amanda.Hart@fea.co.uk, to discuss the role before the closing date.

Andy Sparks
Chair of Governors

If you have the very special qualities and the passion to make a real a difference to the future of our students and business, then we would like to hear from you.

Please complete the registration form below to access the candidate information pack, application form and the equality and diversity form.

NB:  Please ensure you complete all fields and click on both the Terms and Conditions check box as well as the Consent check box to enable access to the documents.

We have appointed FE Associates to help us find the right person.  Prior to submitting an application, interested parties are advised to arrange an initial conversation with our FE Associates lead consultant, by emailing Amanda.Hart@fea.co.uk to discuss the role before the closing date.

Closing date: 9am on Tuesday 7 January 2025

Interview date:  week commencing Monday 20 January 2025

Stage 1 of 2: Complete the form below