North East
Dear all,
Looking back at the first half of the summer term, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting colleges, meeting with boards, and attending our network meetings. I know how busy this period is, with exams underway so much hard work goes into ensuring everything runs smoothly.
The Millburn Review interim report was published last week. It’s encouraging to see the NEET challenge receiving broader awareness. You can read David Hughes’ blog post here. There is more to follow on this when the recommendations are published.
I hope you are all looking forward to the final half term of 2026/27. It would be great to see as many of you as possible at the Summer Policy Forum. on 24 June. It’s the first one I am attending and I’m really looking forward to the discussions. After what feels like a lot of policy updates it will be a great place to reflect and look ahead.
I was honoured to be asked to present the awards at the North East Inter College Skills Competition - it felt like a perfect way to round off the half term, and it was great to celebrate the region's students and lovely to see some North East Principals there too. The effort of the students was evident and it was lovely to see so many proud faces. The competition with 507 competitors in 48 categories and 166 medal winners really showed what colleges in the North East are all about. We also had a performance from the Battle of the Band winners from Middlesborough College, and I am sure that will not be the last we see of them – fantastic!
Grant Glendenning, CEO and Group Principal of Education Training Collective, who hosted the awards at Redcar and Cleveland College encouraged all competitors to go all of the way with their entries to the National and then International Competitions, asking students and staff to “punch above our weight in the North East”. It was an inspiring afternoon and a powerful reminder of what we have to be proud of. Congratulations to all winners and runners-up.
A reminder that there is still time to nominate students for our Student of the Year Awards 2026/27, which close on Monday 22 June. Also keep an eye out for Beacon Awards which open for the 2026/27 round on Monday 8 June. Two great opportunities to celebrate achievements across your college.
Congratulations to Andy Broadbent on being shortlisted for Business Leader of the Year at the North East Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2026. A fantastic achievement and well-deserved recognition of his leadership and impact - best of luck, and we’ll look forward to checking back in once the awards have taken place.
Thank you to Middlesbrough College for hosting the North East HR Chairs Network (5 May), and to East Durham College for hosting the North East Governance Professionals Network (21 May). We have had some really interesting discussions with colleagues from AoC, DfE, FE Commissioners Team, Irwin Mitchell and colleges from around the country sharing their recent Ofsted inspection experience.
We’re grateful to colleges who host these networks, creating valuable opportunities to come together. Forthcoming regional meetings can be found on the AoC website.
If you have any news that you’d like us to share in future, please email AoC.North@aoc.co.uk.
Dear all,
I hope you and your teams managed to enjoy a well‑deserved break over Easter and that you’re feeling refreshed. I can’t quite believe we’re already into May and heading towards the summer term – the year really is flying by! There’s been lots of great news and positive momentum across the region recently, so I’m pleased to share a few highlights below, as well as some key updates and developments.
Wave 2 technical excellence colleges (TECs)
It’s great to see further success for the region with two additional technical excellence colleges (TECs) announced as part of Wave 2. Congratulations to New College Durham, which has been successful in securing one of the four national advanced manufacturing TECs, and to The Education and Training Collective (ETC), which has been awarded one of the five national clean energy TECs.
These designations are a real recognition of the expertise and strengths already present across our region, and it will be exciting to see how both colleges develop this work and collaborate with partners to support learners, employers and the wider sector.
Newcastle College Energy Academy Expansion
Approval of an expansion of the purpose built Energy Academy in North Tyneside is another fantastic announcement allowing more regional growth in offshore wind and renewable energy sector.
Darlington College STEM centre
It was great to hear about the plans for the STEM centre at Darlington college last week when I was there visiting the principal David Gartland, it will be such a great addition to the college and Darlington. Watch this space.
AoC Student of the Year 26/27
Applications for the Student of the Year Awards 2026/27 opened last week. Find out more here.
There is so much going on in FE and in the region, it’s so great to get out to lots of colleges for catch ups, strategy days and networks and also meeting regional groups, including principals, finance directors and curriculum and quality networks. Thank you all for being so welcoming, and please feel free to reach out if you need anything!
Forthcoming regional meetings can be found on the AoC website.
If you have any news that you’d like us to share in future, please email AoC.North@aoc.co.uk.
Best wishes,
Carly Lambton-Howard (Area Director- North East)
Dear all,
I hope you and your teams managed to have a good break over the half term.
Colleges Week 2026
Last week marked our ninth annual Colleges Week and the North East certainly did us proud, shouting loud about the amazing things colleges do every day for people, place and productivity. I have enjoyed seeing lots of updates across social media, thanks for sharing all of your activities.
Recognising excellence
Gateshead College has been awarded the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education for its pioneering PlanBEE programme, recognising a decade of innovation in tackling skills shortages in the built environment. Representatives attended the ceremony at St James’s Palace, where the King presented the award (see picture below).
Launched in partnership with Ryder Architecture, PlanBEE blends academic study with hands‑on industry experience and is backed by over 70 employers. The programme has delivered more than 850 industry placements and achieved a 98% progression rate into employment or further study.
Reminders
Last chance to book AoC EDI Conference (11-12 March) and help shape how colleges embed inclusion, tackle inequality and strengthen our role as anchor institutions. You can find details here.
Colleges’ National Green Week is approaching (20-24 April) and we’re looking to spotlight activity taking place across the region. Also, if your college is planning on hosting a Green Careers Fair this year, we’d be pleased to hear from you. The DfE are interested in promoting for parliamentary visits.
Forthcoming regional meetings can be found on the AoC website.
If you have any news that you’d like us to share in future, please email AoC.North@aoc.co.uk.
Best wishes,
Carly Lambton-Howard (Area Director- North East)
I am delighted to have joined AoC and completed my first week as the North East Area Director. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across the region, so please feel free to contact me at carly.lambton-howard@aoc.co.uk. I’m available Tuesday - Thursday and welcome the opportunity to meet with you all in the coming weeks.
Our annual Colleges Week will take place from 2 to 6 March, and we are keen to highlight activities happening across the North East. A wide range of resources is available to support planning, and the AoC team is very happy to attend or support events. If you are running activities during the week, please let us know, we would be delighted to help shine a spotlight on your work and impact in the region.
Members can now upload press releases directly to the new College News page using a quick and simple online form. Every submission will also receive a corresponding AoC X (Twitter) post, helping boost visibility and celebrate the fantastic work taking place across the region. Please do make use of this feature, we want to help showcase your work.
We’ve had a great start to the new year across our regional networks. A big thank you to Chris Todd, Principal and Chief Executive at Derwentside College, for hosting our North East Principal/CEO Network on 19 January. It was fantastic to see so many of our college leaders come together to collaborate, challenge, and connect, setting a strong foundation for the months ahead. Details for our North East Networks can be found on the AoC page.
We are always keen to celebrate success in the region. If you have anything you’d like us to share in future, please email AoC.North@aoc.co.uk.
Kind regards,
Carly Lambton-Howard
Area Director (North East)
Happy New Year! We hope you had a lovely break over Christmas and it’s been a good start to 2026 for our North East Colleges.
Firstly, we are delighted to say that Carly Lambton-Howard will join AoC as North East Area Director in early February. Carly is based in the North East and joins AoC with extensive experience in further and higher education, most recently as Head of MIS at Derwentside College. We know Carly will look forward to meeting you soon and getting to know all of the colleges across the region.
As always, it was a very busy start to the academic year, from results day and enrolment to a fast-changing policy environment, with changes to Ofsted inspection, the publication of the post-16 white paper and Curriculum and Assessment Review, devolution developments and much more.
The 2025 AoC conference was our biggest yet, and it was great to see over 60 delegates from the North East region in attendance. At the conference, we launched the Adult Learning Pays campaign, which aims to ensure that the importance of adult education and the key benefits it brings are recognised. It will be great to discuss this further with you: we hope to involve lots of North East colleges, stakeholders and politicians in the campaign.
We were pleased to host 12 North East regional networks in the first term with lots of brilliant discussion and debate, including input from senior officials, employer representative bodies, DfE, Ofsted and Irwin Mitchell. We have welcomed new co-chairs to the Curriculum & Quality Network: Ollie Rodley from Middlesbrough College and Angela Stevenson from Prior Pursglove College. Information on this term’s regional events can be found here, we hope to see you there.
Congratulations to Gateshead College, who were recently awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education for their employer-led built environment apprenticeship programme ‘Plan Bee’. As the UK’s highest national honour for education, this is a fantastic achievement. We are also pleased to congratulate Newcastle College for receiving commendation in the 2025/26 AoC Beacon Awards.
We are always keen to celebrate success in the region. If you have anything you’d like us to share in future, please email AoC.North@aoc.co.uk.
Colleges Week is coming up soon, on Monday 2 to Friday 6 March 2026. Information and resources are available here, please let us know if you have any activities planned so we can promote and get involved.
Best wishes,
Rebecca Durber
Area Director (NW) and Senior Policy Lead (Devolution)