South West

Happy New Year! I hope you were able to enjoy a well-earned and restful break over the festive season. A heartfelt thank you to all the colleges that shared such thoughtful Christmas greetings with us. We send our very best to you all for a successful and positive year ahead.

It was great to see FE leaders recognised in the New Years Honours list including Jane Hadfield, newly installed Chair of Corporation at Weston College who was awarded an MBE for services to education.

This recognised her long-standing contribution to skills as the national lead for apprenticeships in the NHS and former board member of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

I am sure you will have noted that Colleges Week 2026, will take place from Monday 2 March to Friday 6 March and the theme for this year Skills For All. I encourage you to start planning activities in the diary, and further information and resources can be found here. If we can support you with this, please get in touch.

If you have not done so already you may wish to complete this survey from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult who are seeking insights from FE colleges on how you engage with advanced manufacturing, and how they can better support your students, staff, and employer partners over the next two years. Your responses will directly shape how they develop future programmes and partnerships to strengthen FE provision and grow the UK’s advanced manufacturing capability. Please complete the survey by 19 January 2026.

I have no doubt that 2026 will be just as busy as last year. We will continue to do our best working with you to influence policy, communicate key messages and provide timely support, and as always, we have a number of events planned for this first half term that we very much look forward to seeing many of you at.

SW Curriculum and Quality Network
Wednesday 14 January
10:00am – 2:00pm
South Devon College

South SEND Forum
Tuesday 27 January
10:00 – 11:30am
Online

SW Principal/CEO Network and Parliamentary Dinner
10 February
London

South HE Forum
Thursday 12 February
11:00am – 12:30pm
Online

South Apprenticeship Forum
Wednesday 25 February
10:00 – 11:30am
Online

Best wishes for the start of term and as always if you need any help or support, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best wishes,
Jo Watson
Area Director – South West