College will keep evolving to meet new challenges

THE new principal of The Henley College says it is well equipped to meet the changing demands of students and employers for decades to come.

Simon Spearman, 51, takes the reins from Satwant Deol, who retired at the end of last term after eight years.

He was previously the deputy head of Christ The King Emmanuel, a sixth-form college in Blackheath, London, where he had worked for more than 16 years.

Mr Spearman said: “Henley’s a great place and it has a great sixth form college which offers a really good range of academic and vocational education.

"It’s situated in the heart of the Thames Valley and the students come from the three main counties that surround it, so that proposition, that diversity was really exciting for me.

"It’s a really exciting opportunity to come to a college that’s got that variety.”

Mr Spearman lives in the Henley area with his wife Rachel, a former teacher, and their young son.

He grew up in Somerset and after leaving school he studied business and economics at the University of Surrey before completing his teaching qualification at Bristol University.

Mr Spearman said: “I’ve always been a teacher and when I was in sixth form I actually helped coach rugby and football to some of the younger pupils in the school that I was in.

“That was when I first thought about becoming a teacher but it turned out that I would teach economics, rather than sport.”

Mr Spearman, who has been a teacher for 29 years, said he naturally gravitated towards higher education which he described as a "pivotal" moment in a person’s life.

He said: “I’ve worked in a mixture of institutions but generally further education. I’ve had a mixture of roles, both pastoral and curriculum leadership, and I’ve been part of a senior leadership team for the last 12 years.

“I think higher education is an incredibly important phase because it’s that phase where you will become more so than ever the person that you’ll be in adulthood.

“I think lots of us will remember our own sixth form experiences and how those experiences really set you up for adult lives.

“It’s a great privilege, I think, to be able to help young people shape themselves and start to gain their own full independence and start to develop those skills and see them through the rest of their lives.”

Mr Spearman said the college has done well to adapt to education reforms, such as the introduction of T Levels in 2020.

These are vocational courses for 16- to 19-year-olds, equivalent to three A levels, brought in to replace a range of BTEC subjects.

T Levels are developed against occupational standards set with employers but many courses had funding switched at the start of the academic year with more to follow in 2025.

Mr Spearman said: “Reforms to T levels is one of the biggest challenges but I think the college has done really well to be dexterous enough to move its provision around. Institutional learning is really important and, having gone with the T Levels early on in its life, it means that there is lots of experience already in the institution for that.

“The primary thing with teaching vocational and academic qualifications is that teaching and learning is central to that experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re teaching a vocational course, you’re still going to be able to teach really well and the students have still got to be able to learn in a really credible way. That skill set and development of the institution and the staff within it is really key.”

Mr Spearman said that the college has developed large areas of its campus to accommodate new courses so it stays at the forefront of student needs and wants from employers. This has included a medical ward and a purpose-built space for engineering, business and administration and digital T level courses.

He said: “There’s a new mock hospital ward, which is really exciting. It’s for all students and you can use the medical ward for forensic science as well. It’s multi-use and it cuts across much more of the curriculum than just the T level in health and science.

“We’ve got new equipment and a new area for the engineers and again, that cuts across both T level and BTEC engineering and it has state-of-the-art electronic engineering equipment.

“We’re currently redesigning and building a new art media centre which is also really exciting. That will again have up-to-date modern facilities for students, who will be studying media, film and the arts.

“I think it gives some sense of the journey that the college is on. There is lots of ambition to ensure that over the next decade we’re continuing to develop the college so that it is fit for the future and fit for the next 20, 30, 40 years.”

Mr Spearman said that despite the success of T level subjects aimed at preparing students for the world of work, most students still had a desire to go to university.

He said: “I think most students want to go to university and I don’t think that’s going to change dramatically. What has changed is I think the careers advice and guidance that’s given is much broader so it caters for the growing number of students who do want to explore the workplace and who do want to explore a degree apprenticeship.

“I think for most of our A-level students, their route is predominantly university but loads of vocational students want to go on and do university education and beyond.

“Our job is to ensure that students succeed to the best of their ability but also to develop themselves and their whole person ready for the next step, be that university, be it apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship, whatever it might be.

“Certainly the ethos is student-centred and is about generating and creating a space for someone to develop their whole self, not just their academics but also those broader skills which broaden your horizon and I think it’s good for your wellbeing, to have lots of ambitions and likes.” To that end, Mr Spearman said he was keen to maintain the college’s links with the local community through its sports teams and performing arts departments.

He said: “I know that the drama team and the drama enrichment team have already started to work on proposals for two plays that are hopefully going to be performed at the Kenton Theatre.

“The elite sports teams have really close connections with the Henley sports teams, be that football, rugby, rowing, tennis. They’re not abstract from the town, they’re part and parcel of the teams within town and I really like how the college has positioned itself as a part of the Henley community.”

Mr Spearman said some of the biggest challenges facing educators included managing workloads and encouraging more people into the profession.

He said: “I think coming back from the coronavirus pandemic there has been a societal shift and that’s created its own challenges and opportunities.

“I think that workload is something that we all strive to try and get better at. You can work in different ways that hopefully help to rationalise work and benefit both the member staff and the student if you can get that right.

“Recruitment of staff generally, not just in teaching but for support services as well, is a challenge but I think here at the college, it has a good reputation and so it attracts really good staff. I’ve been really impressed in the short time that I’ve been here. I’ve seen colleagues who are just super committed and really want to get things right for their students.

“I absolutely love teaching. I think it’s such a privilege and rewarding thing to do and I love talking about how to move things forward, how to develop teaching.

“Teaching never stands still because the world around you is moving on, so you can’t employ the same ways of being that worked 25 years ago.

“So life moves on, teaching has to move on with it and you have to continually keep developing and challenging yourself. At the college I will be leading a teaching and a learning organisation.”