Saboohi Famili started in her new post as Principal of SCOLA on May 4th. The first woman under the age of 40 to hold this post, she brings with her a reputation for energy, enthusiasm, entrepreneurship and a strong consultative and inclusive approach to her work.

She comes direct from Thames Valley University where she set up and ran their FutureSkills programme, the business-facing arm of the university designed to create meaningful partnerships between Business and Education. With a budget of £8 million allocated for three years and employing a staff of 32 this new unit rapidly became known for its creative and forward thinking work. Saboohi took a high profile lead in this, meeting the Queen early in the development of the programme and, at one point, being despatched to China to take a lead role in a business conference involving government ministers and very influential business leaders.

Saboohi believes in an open door approach and will be seeking to consult staff and students in ways to expand, develop and improve the service that SCOLA offers.

Meeting with staff in advance of taking up the post, Saboohi said: “I am very impressed with the number of hard working dedicated tutors and support staff who deliver Adult Education in Sutton. There is clearly a strong basis on which to develop the existing strengths whilst experimenting with new ideas.” As funding regimes change and further and adult education struggles to finance its work, Saboohi will clearly face many challenges which she is familiar with, having previously worked at Carshalton and other FE colleges and HE institutions.

As a resident of Sutton she is intent on ensuring that the Borough has the best possible Adult Education service that it can offer for its residents. She will be seeking to survey staff and students as soon as is practicable for their ideas on what can be done to deliver a service that is even better than that currently on offer. To contribute to shaping the future of Your Community College please share your views by emailing her on future@scola.ac.uk