AFTER more than two decades at the helm of New College, principal Graham Taylor will bid a fond farewell to staff and students next July when he retires from the role.

The 68-year-old first joined the college back in September 1996 from an assistant principal position at Eastleigh College in Hampshire.

Since then, Graham has seen the school go through a number of dramatic changes – all intended to provide the best possible education for Swindon.

When he first arrived at New College, Graham inherited a College with an income of £3m offering A Levels and sixth form courses to 16-18 year olds.

Over his near 22-years of leadership, New College has expanded and diversified significantly with an income of circa £22 million and provision now including Apprenticeships, Pre-16 courses, Higher Education and adult education across qualification and leisure courses and business and professional training.

The College has also grown physically, with the current building opening in 2003, the addition of a Sports Centre, further extensions in 2005 and 2011 and a new Dance Studio in 2013.

“Any principal or CEO is only as good as the staff around them and I pay tribute to those I have worked with over the years for helping to make New College a wonderful place to work in,” he said.

“I am proud that in an era of increased competition and funding cuts we have survived and prospered.

“We have also been extremely fortunate to attract, educate and train so many great learners, approximately 175,000 since 1996, who have gone on to achieve great things. It has been a privilege and pleasure to serve them. Education changes lives and I am so delighted to have been able to play a part in this.”

Despite becoming an economics undergraduate from the University of Lancaster, Graham soon found his feet in teacher and went on to gain postgraduate qualifications in management, computing and teaching. As a result, he is an author of a number of academic books in IT and computing.

More recent initiatives and achievements that Graham is immensely proud of include the development of a new school, Great Western Academy; plans for an all weather pitch for summer 2018; exceptional English and Maths GCSE results within the FE sector; increased funding for Additional Learning Support resources to support vulnerable learners and the development of New College as a Centre of Excellence for IT.

On retiring, he intends to give something back to the education sector by undertaking consultancy work to help and advise other colleges on their quality improvement processes.

“What is lovely is that we all believe education can change lives so the face we have got almost 10 times as many students to when I joined is brilliant,” Graham added.

“There’s a famous quote from Greg Dyke when he left the BBC that said he would be spending more time with his family but the trouble is that my family don’t want to spend so much time with me so even with my age I’m not ready to give education up yet.”

New College has now started a recruitment process to find a new principal who will build on Graham’s legacy.