New Deputy Principal and Deputy Chief Executive aims to nurture a brilliant learning environment
Ken Merry is determined to help nurture an environment for “brilliance” in his new role as York College & University Centre’s Deputy Principal and Deputy Chief Executive.
Having previously worked for Ofsted as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors, Merry left his last position as Vice Principal for Quality at Barnsley College to start work in North Yorkshire this month.
Whilst at Barnsley College, Merry was a member of the Executive Team that secured an “Outstanding” Ofsted grade last year.
He first started out in education as an A Level Travel and Tourism teacher at New College Pontefract and has since held a variety of leadership roles in a range of colleges.
He is also a trustee of the Prisoners’ Education Trust.
York College & University Centre received an Ofsted rating of Good earlier this year and Merry is hoping to further raise standards at the Sim Balk Lane site.
He said: “I came here a few years ago as part of an Ofsted pilot inspection and really liked it. The building is lovely and the atrium is really bright, airy and welcoming.
“Every member of staff I met seemed really enthusiastic about what they were doing and I’ve never heard a bad word said about the college, which I think is lovely and unusual, because even the best colleges get name called every so often. It’s going to be a really exciting challenge and journey for me because the College isn’t broken – we just want everything to be brilliant.
“We don’t need to wait for Ofsted to come and validate that. We just need to be able to say, hand on heart, that if I had friends and family who were going to come to York College & University Centre and study something, then it would be a brilliant experience for them.
“I want students walking out of classes buzzing, because the best lessons are the ones that you still remember a week later and I’d like to be seeing one of those lessons a week or, even, one a day.”
