Home / Roles / HR Governor | Gloucestershire College
Join Gloucestershire College as a HR Governor to play a vital part in shaping the College’s vision, mission, and values, develop its long-term strategy and contribute to the future success of the organisation.
* Location: Gloucester
Located at three campuses across the county of Gloucestershire and employing approximately 900 people, Gloucestershire College is a large, successful, and financially resilient College of Further Education, judged as Good in its latest Ofsted inspection.
Who we are
Gloucestershire College (GC) is a career-focused further education provider operating across three campuses in Cheltenham, Gloucester, and the Forest of Dean.
We offer a range of academic, professional, and technical training programmes for school leavers, adults, and employers. These include award-winning apprenticeships, university-level and professional qualifications, part-time, online, and short courses, with tailored support for students from start to finish.
Our mission is to deliver ‘learning that works‘ through practical courses that offer skills businesses really need in industry-standard facilities, taught by passionate, subject specialists.
We provide bespoke training solutions to more than 1,300 employer-partners, enabling them to fill skills gaps and build a solid talent pipeline for the future. We provide training programmes in a wide variety of areas, including accounting (AAT), automotive, business support, construction and building services, education and early years, engineering, hairdressing, health and social care, hospitality, human resources, IT and cyber, management and marketing.
All our learners benefit from tailored support and development throughout their journey to higher education or employment, including valuable work placement and enrichment opportunities.
We are proud to have been rated “Good” in our latest Ofsted inspection and to have strong financial health.
We are committed to ensuring all individuals are valued and work in a safe environment, promoting the ethos of safeguarding and equality, diversity, and inclusion in all our practices. We expect all Board Members to share this commitment.
Our mission: ‘learning that works’
Our mission reflects our commitment to our stakeholders. We have three primary objectives:
* To provide individuals with opportunities to advance in their careers, achieve their goals and improve their lives.
* To promote social mobility. Gloucestershire is an area characterised by a large number of selective and grammar schools and polarised attainment. Many of our learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Closing these attainment gaps is really important to us.
* To collaborate with employers to equip them with the skills necessary to be prosperous. Working with over 1300 employers annually, we are deeply rooted in the local business community. We are also a large business in our own right: we employ over 800 members of staff and have a turnover of approximately £40 million.
We offer a broad curriculum with courses in all areas, except agriculture, and at all levels. Our focus is on technical and vocational training. We do not offer A Levels directly.
We have a higher volume of adult education, apprenticeship, high needs, and higher education provision compared to most further education colleges. This results in a lower proportion of 16-18-year-old students, constituting approximately one-third of our work.
We have an arms-length training subsidiary that extends our delivery to areas such as Manchester and London.
Each of our campuses offers distinct provision. Gloucester provides a broad vocational offering, while the Forest of Dean primarily caters for 16-18-year-olds. Located adjacent to GCHQ, the Cheltenham campus focuses on higher and professional programmes, and houses our £3 million cyber training centre.
In collaboration with UWE, we offer the only degree apprenticeship in the country endorsed by the National Cyber Security Centre.
Our Cheltenham campus also hosts tech companies from start-ups accommodated within our incubation zone to established firms like Amazon Web Services.
Our facilities
We operate a substantial estate that includes our three modern campuses in Gloucester, Cheltenham, and the Forest of Dean, together with a business park and other properties in Gloucester.
In 2022/23, we completed our ‘GC Zero’ project, which successfully decarbonised our Cheltenham and Gloucester campuses and reduced our exposure to energy market fluctuations. We are currently building a new construction centre at our Cheltenham campus.
We have a dedicated and cohesive leadership team guided by shared values and a common purpose. Our culture promotes openness, collaboration, and innovation, providing all staff members with a voice. Our Board of Governors is highly engaged and actively offers support and constructive challenge.
Our strategic plan
Our strategic plan for 2022-2026 identifies a number of challenges:
* Meeting skills needs and collaborating on the Local Skills Improvement Plan.
* Addressing the challenges facing the further education sector, including preparing for the significant curriculum changes that will arise over the next few years.
* Further enhancing the quality of our provision.
* Expanding our offering, whilst maintaining a stable financial position in the current economic climate.
* Embracing the benefits and managing the challenges associated with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cyber threats.
About the role
The Board of Governors aims to set and take forward an ambitious vision for the College that equips its learners for their future lives and meets the needs of the community, employers and the wider Gloucestershire community whilst maintaining the College’s financial health.
The role of a governor is to contribute to the work of the Board as follows:
* The Board sets the strategic direction of the College and monitors College performance by setting targets and agreeing key performance indicators with the Executive Team.
* The Board, led by the Chair, provides checks and balances to the operational Executive Team led by the Principal & CEO.
* The Board is accountable for its stewardship of public funds to deliver a quality service and for the performance of its legal and statutory duties.
* The College values its governors’ breadth of experience and skills and recognises the contribution that governors make to the success of the College, and through this, governors feel that their involvement is rewarding and satisfying.
In return, you will benefit from joining a high-performing board and thriving College, with the opportunity to develop your professional, contribute to the local community and transform lives.
Who we are looking for
We are looking to engage a new Governor from a wide range of backgrounds with the skills, experience, and commitment to play a pivotal role in shaping all aspects of the future of the College. We are particularly keen to engagestrategic HR/OD expertise on the Governing Body that will help support the future direction of our college, bring valuable insight and support, and hold the executive to account on the full portfolio of board-related matters.
You will need to bring your own sector knowledge, professional curiosity and a passion for societal change through education. There is no requirement for you to be an expert in education, and both fellow board members and the executive team will value your experience from outside the sector.
If you are looking to develop your board skills or to use the skills and experience you have gained to give back to your community and help others to succeed, and you share our passion and commitment to our goals and values, we would welcome your interest.
Peridot Partners and Gloucestershire 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 candidate 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 consultant at Peridot Partners:
If you would like to know more about this role please contact Sarah Atkins-Boal
I am writing to you as Matthew Burgess, Principal and CEO of Gloucestershire College, to thank you for your interest in joining our board of governors. The position plays a vital role in the continued success of our College, offering an exciting opportunity to contribute your experience at a strategic level and help shape the future success of Gloucestershire College.
To ensure the right fit, I would like to provide you with additional information about Gloucestershire College and give you a glimpse into our vibrant institution.
Mission: Learning that Works
Our mission reflects our commitment to our local community, and we have three primary objectives:
* Providing individuals with opportunities to advance in their careers, improve their lives, and achieve their goals.
* Promoting social mobility – Gloucestershire is an area characterised by a large number of selective and grammar schools and also polarised attainment. Many of our learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and so closing these attainment gaps is really important to us.
* Collaborating with employers to equip them with the skills necessary to be prosperous, working with over 1500 employers annually, we are deeply rooted in the local business community — we are a large business ourselves with a turnover of approximately £40m.
We have a broad curriulcum offer which provides courses in all curriculum areas except agriculture and at all levels. Our focus is on technical and vocational training, so we do not offer A Levels directly.
We have a higher volume of adult education, apprenticeships, high needs provision and higher education compared to most other institutions. This results in a lower proportion of 16-18-year-old students, constituting approximately one-third of our work. Additionally, we have an arms-length subsidiary that extends our delivery to areas such as Manchester and London.
Thank you once again for your interest, and I look forward to receiving your application.
Kind regards,
Matthew Burgess
Principal and CEO
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For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
As a sector-leading executive search consultancy, we know the importance of creating recruitment processes that are fair, inclusive, and free from bias. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a process that values differences.
If you have a disability that meets the definition set out in the Equality Act 2010 and can show that you meet the ‘essential’ criteria described in the person specification, please let us know.
If you require any job information in an alternative format (e.g. large print), please contact Sarah Atkins-Boal. Please also let us know if you would like to submit your application in an alternative format.
Recruitment selection processes are based on evidence of competence stated in the person specification and in relation to our values.
Timetable
Closing date: 9 a.m. Monday 10th November 2025
Candidates informed of outcome: Friday 21st November 2025
Interviews:w/c Monday 1st December 2025
We are in the process of confirming interview dates. Once confirmed, we will update the site and contact those who have applied.
Peridot and Gloucestershire College are committed to promoting equality and diversity. To help us raise awareness and support a culture that is diverse and recognises and develops the potential of all, we need to appreciate the profile of candidates who apply for positions.We will send you an equality monitoring survey at the point of receiving your application and at the time of placement. This ensures that our processes remain inclusive and equitable throughout, and provides us with important data to help us showcase our impact.
The information will be treated confidentially and anonymously and will help us to support our commitment to fair recruitment practice. All information provided will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with anyone, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 launched on 25 May 2018.
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