West Midlands

Happy New Year! I hope your break over the festive period was wonderful and restorative. Thank you to all colleges for your warm Christmas greetings and kind messages of thanks and support. We very much appreciated them and wish you all the very best for 2026. We definitely have another busy year lined up for us!

Congratulations to our West Midlands AoC Beacon Award finalists for 2025/26:

• Derwen College, finalist in the AoC Award for Mental Health and Wellbeing
• North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, finalist in the City and Guilds Award for College Engagement with Employers

Assessor visits are taking place this month, with winners being announced on the 3 March 2026 at the House of Commons. We wish you the very best of luck!

And the congratulations don’t stop here! I was really pleased to see students Samiha Kalam from Sandwell College win the AoC Young Student of the Year Award, and Kea Masters from Halesowen College win the AQA Inspiring Project Award at the AoC Annual Conference in Birmingham.

Congratulations also to Santina Bunting, proud alumni of Solihull College and University Centre who was inducted into our FE Hall of Fame last year.

Finally, congratulations to North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, who were just one of four FE colleges to be named as winners of the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education. The college was recognised for its leadership of the MIRA Technology Institute (MTI), which showcases how collaborative working between further and higher education institutions and industry can meet skills demands.

These awards are all a fantastic recognition of the impactful contributions colleges and their students make in their field and communities – well done to our West Midlands Colleges!

Continuing with the theme of celebrating, Colleges Week 2026 will take place from Monday 2 March to Friday 6 March 2026. Our theme this year is Skills For All and we are already looking forward to hearing what exciting activities you have planned for the week. Further information and resources can be found here and if there is anything we can do to support you with this celebratory week, please do get in touch.

We are keen to use these regional monthly updates to celebrate success in the region, therefore if you have anything you’d like us to share in future editions, please email pal.sohi@aoc.co.uk. You can also now upload your own press releases to the College News section of our website to share with the entire sector.

Network meetings
As always, we have another round of regional events planned for this term that I look forward to seeing you at:

Joint Midlands Chairs’ Network
Wednesday 14 January 2026
1.30 – 2.30pm (online)

Joint Midlands HR Professionals’ Network
Wednesday 21 January 2026
10 – 11.30am (online)

West Midlands Principals and CEOs’ Network
Thursday 22 January 2026
10 – 11am (online)

Joint Midlands Governance Professionals’ Network
Wednesday 11 February 2026
10 – 1pm at Leicester College

Midlands and East SEND Forum
Wednesday 28 January 2026
10.30 – 12pm (online)

Midlands and East Apprenticeship Forum
Tuesday 10 February 2026
10 – 11.30am (online)

Midlands and East College HE Forum
Tuesday 10 February 2026
1.30 – 3pm (online)

Joint Midlands Chairs’ Network
Wednesday 11 March 2026
1.30 – 2.30pm (online)

Joint Midlands Finance Directors’ Network
Thursday 12 March 2026
10am – 1pm at Nottingham College

Joint Midlands Curriculum and Quality Network
Tuesday 17 March 2026
10am – 1pm (venue TBC)

West Midlands HR Professionals’ Network
Wednesday 18 March 2026
10 – 11am (online)

West Midlands Principals and CEOs’ Network
Thursday 19 March 2026
10 – 11am (online)

If there is anything else I or the regional team can support you with, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Our contact details are available on the AoC website.

Welcome back and once again, happy new year!
Kind regards,

Jen Hope
Area Director (East Midlands & West Midlands) and Senior Policy Lead (Mental Health)