Member of the Board of Governors

Join the Board of The Sandwell Colleges as a Governor and help shape the future of the largest college in the West Midlands, strengthening its growing reputation while improving life chances and driving economic prosperity for learners, communities and businesses.

• Location: Sandwell, West Midlands
• Salary: Reasonable expenses paid
• Closing date: Rolling applications

The Sandwell Colleges – the largest further education college in the West Midlands – works with over 13,000 young people, apprentices and adults each year across three colleges and seven campuses in Sandwell and Birmingham.

• Strategic plan ‘Your Future Our Focus’

Who is The Sandwell Colleges?

The Sandwell Colleges provide academic, professional, vocational and technical education, ranging from essential skills to higher-level qualifications. Through investment in industry-standard facilities and expert teaching, the Colleges support students to progress into skilled employment, degree apprenticeships, and higher education.

Working with employers and partners, the Colleges are helping to generate the pipeline of skills that are needed in key sectors to ensure prosperous communities and thriving local economies. The Colleges are proud of the impact they make in enabling inclusion and promoting social mobility through breaking down barriers to learning for young people and adults in the areas served.

The transformative vision of The Sandwell Colleges is to ensure the progression of young people and adults in Sandwell, Birmingham and from across the Black Country to successful and brighter futures, enabling immersion into real-world opportunities and a curriculum that is enriched and vibrant. With a focus on ambitious achievement, attainment and progression for learners, the Colleges aim to drive growth and prosperity in our local communities.

The Colleges deliver career-focused academic and technical programmes, including A Levels, T Levels, apprenticeships and vocational education. Working collaboratively with over 2,000 employers and partners, we are committed to addressing skills needs across the region.

About the role

Under the leadership of our CEO & Principal, Lisa Capper MBE from November 2024, we have entered into an exciting phase of our journey with the launch of a new strategic plan in June 2025 ‘Your Future Our Focus’, calling on employers to help shape the curriculum, offer work placements, support apprentices and ensure that together the vital pipeline of skills needed in sector priority areas can be achieved. The plan includes priorities focused on achievement, ambition and progression for all learners; meeting skills needs to support the local and regional economy; collaborative working and building key partnerships to maximise opportunities and support our communities. The strategic plan also features details of the College’s values, which were developed by learners, colleagues and governors. Together, these values signify an ethos to support and challenge, collaborate, inspire and celebrate.

We recognise that as an organisation, we have a range of exciting ongoing opportunities for growth and development coupled with big ambitions for the future. To ensure we continue to make the best decisions for our students and for the future of The Sandwell Colleges, it is vital that we are supported by a governing body that asks challenging questions, provides scrutiny to our work, and can work in collaboration with us when developing our strategic plans.

The Sandwell Colleges welcomed Anne Frost as the new Chair of the Board of Governors in September 2025, who brings with her significant experience, having had a career spanning a wide breadth of sectors, including 11 years in the Department for Education, where her roles included supporting those most disadvantaged in education and being the lead civil servant overseeing Further Education policy.

Who we are looking for

The Colleges seek to appoint additional Governors to our Board. Within these roles, Board Members will offer support and advice to our senior leaders using their specific areas of professional expertise, whilst providing scrutiny and challenge on the decisions we make.

Candidates for each of these roles will need to be successful leaders with experience working in similarly large and complex organisations.

You will appreciate the scale and opportunities of our organisation, share a passion for education, particularly further education, and for helping people achieve their ambitions.

Additionally, you will need to understand the importance of community cohesion and have knowledge of the local skills and economic landscape.

Furthermore, you will bring an understanding of the impacts that our sector has on individuals, employers and the local communities we serve across the large Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, the City of Birmingham and the West Midlands region.

We are keen to meet candidates who have a strong interest and/or experience in board work, either as an executive or a non-executive. Candidates for these roles will need to have a professional background and demonstrable expertise in one of the following areas:

• Estates / Facilities
• Digital
• NHS/ Healthcare

The time commitment will be up to 10 hours per month.

Peridot Partners and TheSandwell Colleges 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 candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.

To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.

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

Dan Baxter | dan@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07939 994524

Shaun Eden | shaun@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07951 509128