Governance and The Corporation of New College Stamford
Introducing the College Corporation
We want to make sure our students, staff and the communities we serve, can find out what we do and what decisions we take. It is important that you have this information because:
- we look after public funds and must show that we use those funds properly and effectively.
- the College is a local community resource.
Our Role
The legal power of our Corporation rests with the Corporation as an entity and not with individual Members. Therefore:
- we should support decisions agreed by the majority of Members;
- we should not speak on behalf of the Corporation unless we have been specifically asked to by the Corporation;
- we share responsibility for decisions;
- we must respect confidentiality
On appointment, we agree to follow our Code of Conduct
We hope the information available here allows you to understand what we do.
How to contact us
If you:
- have any questions;
- want to raise any issues;
- are unable to find the information you want; or,
- you wish to apply to join the Corporation
Please contact the Clerk to the Corporation in writing to:
Mr Ralph Devereux — Clerk to the Corporation
New College Stamford
Drift Road
Stamford
Lincolnshire
PE9 1XA
What are we
We are a Further Education College Corporation established by the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The powers of the Further Education Corporations are detailed in this Act, as amended by the Learning and Skills Act 2000, the Further Education and Training Act 2007 and the Education Act 2011.
We are also an exempt charity. Our principal regulator is the Department for Education.
A “Corporation” is a legal term describing a number of people working together as if they were one person. A corporation carries on working as a succession of new people replace those who retire or resign. The people making up the Corporation are correctly referred to as ‘Members’. Sometimes these individuals may also be referred to as “Governors”.
The Corporation has established five committees which meet regularly. The committees deal with specific parts of our work.
Our committees operate under agreed terms of references (see above) which are reviewed, at least annually.
What do we do?
As a Further Education Corporation we are concerned with governing our College.
The following documents set out what we need to do to govern the College.
Membership
The Corporation comprises up to 20 governors from a variety of backgrounds whose experience, knowledge, skills and strategic leadership provides a vital contribution to the College’s continuing development. The College Principal and Chief Executive, two members of staff and two students are also members of the Corporation.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is dealt with under paragraph 17(2) of the Instrument of Government (Oct 2016 revision).
Other Important Documents
How we listen to the voice of students and staff
Our Corporation must publish its arrangements for listening to the voices of students and staff at the College about what our College does, its strategic direction and its activities.
Students
The Learner Voice is at the heart of our decision-making and quality assurance processes. Learners/students are consulted via the following means:
- Student/learner focus groups;
- Student surveys carried out by the College;
- National/external student surveys;
- Student Voice tutorials across all curriculum areas across the year with feedback via termly/annual reports;
- Student views ascertained during classroom observations;
- Student Council;
- The College also engages with its HE students through the feedback received as part of the National Student Survey;
- Feedback from students/learners feeds into the College quality assurance and review processes, including the Self-Assessment Report and the Quality Improvement Plan;
- ‘You Said, We Did’ poster campaigns;
- Appointment of Student Members to serve on the Corporation.
Staff
The College seeks to engage with staff through the following opportunities:
- Termly Joint Consultation Committee meetings with Trade Union representatives
- Annual Staff Survey
- Staff briefings conducted by the Principal
- Regular SLT Briefings
- College Staff Focus Groups
- Appointment of Staff Members to serve on the Corporation
Two staff and two student Members are appointed as Members of our Corporation and play a full part in its discussion, debate and decision making.
Would you like to join us?
We want to hear from people who may be interested in becoming a Corporation Member.
We want our Members to have a wide range of skills, backgrounds and expertise. This is to make sure we have the benefit of views from, and are truly representative of, our community.
All our Members are appointed as individuals, including those Members who are staff or students. Members are not representatives of the organisations or communities from which they come. Once appointed, Members are required to put the interests of the College first.
From time to time the College has vacancies for external Members to join the Corporation. If you are interested in becoming a Member you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I have the commitment?
- Do I have an interest in education?
- Do I have balanced judgement?
- Do I have a specific skill, professional qualification and/or experience?
- Do I have an ability to assess complex issues?
- Do I have links with the local community or business that I can use for mutual benefit?
- Can I commit to attending a number of meetings during the year?
- Can I put in time before meetings to read the papers?
If you want to receive further information, please contact the Clerk to the Corporation in writing to:
Ralph Devereux — Clerk to the Corporation
New College Stamford
Drift Road
Stamford
Lincolnshire
PE9 1XA
Audit Committee Minutes
Annual-Audit-Report-2013-14.pdf
