Governors (Corporation and Audit & Risk Committee) East Durham College

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Governors (Corporation and Audit & Risk Committee) East Durham College East Durham College seeks to appoint new Governors who will bring strategic experience and curiosity to their Corporation and contribute to their Audit & Risk Committee.

• Location: County Durham, North East
• Salary: Unremunerated with reasonable expenses paid

East Durham College is a college deeply rooted within its local communities. Working across three sites in Peterlee and Houghall, we provide a broad and diverse range of education and training to almost 6,000 students each year. We have been consistently rated 'Good' by Ofsted, most recently in April 2024, when we were also judged to be 'Outstanding' in the areas of Behaviours & Attitudes and Personal Development.

We deliver a broad curriculum, offering vocational provision, A Levels, apprenticeships and T Levels for our learners aged 16-18, as well as vocational, academic and professional development provision for adult learners. Our provision also includes higher education, courses for those with high needs and for those aged 14-16, making us one of the largest providers of foundation learning in the county.

All of our provision is designed to support the learning and development needs of our communities whilst continuing to be a lead contributor in supporting local employers and regional prosperity, something we continue to do with great success. Through all of our work, our staff team, led by our Principal & CEO, Scott Bullock, continue to drive us towards our mission to enrich lives through transformative education.

Who we are East Durham College is situated across three sites; our Peterlee Campus was opened in 2009 following a £36m investment and is the home of our ED6 sixth form, which was added to the site in 2012. Our Houghall Campus is our land-based site - the largest in the region. Education and training have been delivered here for the last 80 years and continue to go through considerable redevelopment to modernise the facilities, which includes plans to commence work on a £26M DfE-funded new build teaching and learning block.

Our Technical Academy, based on the Peterlee Business Park, is a state-of-the-art 37,000sqft technical facility where we deliver courses such as electrical installation and motor vehicle engineering.

We are proud of the breadth of our curriculum - spanning all 15 core sector areas, and through T Levels - across nine different pathways. We are fortunate that each day we get to see the impact that this has on the students who learn and train with us. It is one of the reasons why we continue to be a key contributor to the acceleration of social mobility in the local area. Through careful financial management over recent years, we are proud to have returned an official financial health rating of 'Good'.

We have a turnover of around £32m, which is the result of a positive increase in income over the last few years, the result of improved student recruitment.

We have a range of purposeful partnerships with key stakeholders, which include partnerships with the University of Sunderland and Newcastle College Group, and the local authorities, who have been key partners in the development and growth of the College in recent years. Our broad spectrum of vocational provision has allowed us to develop a wide range of relationships with local businesses, and we have made great efforts to work with local, small and medium-sized employers to support their growth, whilst driving the local economy forward and addressing regional skills priorities.

Outside of these formal relationships, the College has an excellent reputation both locally and regionally, as our sites and facilities are frequently used by other community groups such as healthcare professionals, performing arts groups, grassroots sports clubs, and organisations such as Young Farmers. Our facilities include a boxing gym, beauty salon, a 200-seater theatre, and our working farm at Houghall.

As we continue in our efforts to provide exceptional further and higher education, and with our vision of specifically growing provision in regionally important skills priority areas, we recognise the value of being challenged and supported by a high-performing group of Governors who can provide professional expertise and strategic experience to help drive our organisation forward.

About the roles Our Board of Governors is known as 'the Corporation'. Governors play a vital role in shaping our strategic direction and in helping to set our organisational culture and ethos whilst demonstrating our values of excellence, respectful, sustainable and student-focused.

Led by our Chair, James Bromiley, we have recently completed an external review of governance in which our Corporation was recognised as high performing, and one which puts the success and well-being of students first.

"Findings show a highly proficient board which consistently impacts positively on college strategy, effectiveness and outcomes."

External Review of Governance

As a governor of East Durham College, you will have the chance to shape the future of education and training across the region, supporting Scott Bulllock and his senior leaders to develop and deliver a strategy which positively impacts the futures of thousands of students, local employers and our local communities.

You'll have the chance to be involved in the further growth of our college, support the development of new and innovative curriculum and help safeguard the financial future of the organisation.

Who we are looking for As we enter a new academic year, and having already appointed new Governors recently, this recruitment process represents an opportunity for us to identify new board colleagues who can help bring the skills and expertise we believe we are still lacking as a board. We plan to welcome new candidates to our full Corporation as well as to our Audit & Risk Committee.

Firstly, we will be welcoming applications from qualified, experienced finance professionals. You will be working at a senior level and be able to bring a curious approach to our financial position and related reporting.

In addition to this, we will also be welcoming applications from candidates who have experience in the following areas:

• Qualified audit, risk and compliance professionals to help us safeguard our financial health and remain compliant.
• Those with business development acumen who have experience of income diversification.
• Candidates with expertise in cyber security, data protection and IT systems.

Candidates could have experience at a senior level in a range of sectors and professional contexts, which may include educational settings, the public sector, corporate settings and those based within local employers.

Commitment and expectations We ask our Governors to be willing to commit to a four-year term of office. Appointed individuals will need to attend five Corporation meetings per year. These are held in October, December, February, May and July. These meetings are held in-person, on Thursdays at 5 p.m.

In addition, appointed candidates will be asked to join our Audit & Risk Committee. This committee meets three times per year, on Thursday evenings and usually online.

There is an additional strategy day that we ask governors to attend in January. Our Corporation also runs a Link Governor process which allows certain governors to offer deeper support and have greater engagement on certain functions across the college, such as safeguarding and EDI. It may be that newly appointed governors are invited to join this process where possible.

We estimate that our governors dedicate between 6 - 10 hours per month to their roles. Whilst this commitment is a minimum requirement, to be an effective governor, we hope that appointed individuals will be able to offer more of their time to the College through events and meaningful visiting where your time allows.

New governors will all be supported through a comprehensive induction and training process and ongoing support thereafter.

Peridot Partners and East Durham College are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.

For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:

If you would like to know more about this role please contact Dan Baxter

Thank you for your interest in applying to East Durham College (EDC) to join our Governing body. We welcome your application.

These are exciting times for EDC. We are committed to delivering a highly ambitious curriculum that meets the needs of the communities that we serve, and we are in the process of working with our Governors to refresh our Strategic Plan ahead of a September 2026 launch. We have successfully grown our curriculum and student numbers across all income streams in recent years. Our 16-18 recruitment has continued on an upward trajectory as we continue to capture a greater share of a growing market. Apprenticeship income has been bolstered by the introduction of new standards, including agricultural engineering.

Our land-based campus, Houghall, continues to increase in size and now offers full-time degrees validated by our strategic partner, the University of Sunderland . click apply for full job details