College principal to step down (From Northwich Guardian)

Sir John Deane's College principal to step down

8:30am Monday 6th February 2012 in News By Gina Bebbington

THE man who spearheaded the multi-million pound redevelopment of a Northwich college is stepping down this summer for a well-earned break.

Andrew Jones has been principal of Sir John Deane’s College for 12 years and is leaving the £28million new build as his lasting legacy.

He said: “I’m very pleased with recent developments at the college, particularly the major building project, but I’ve been a college principal for 16 years overall and although it’s a tremendously rewarding job the burden of responsibility does take its toll.

“It’s therefore quite appropriate that for the next stage of its development the college should have a new principal.”

Mr Jones, who took over the reins of SJD in 2000, said joining the successful college was a challenge in itself.

“When I came here it was already a fantastic college,” he said.

“One of the big challenges was could I actually keep this up or was the only way down?

“There was a challenge in keeping the college reputation high and continuing to develop it in positive ways, and happily we’ve managed to do that.

“My own children came through the college and remember their college years with great affection – they had a whale of a time.”

Mr Jones cannot resist a smile when he thinks of his first impressions of the college and the subsequent events of his leadership.

“I vividly remember after my interview for this post going back to my old college and saying I would kill for the level of resource at Sir John Deane’s,” he said.

“There’s something ironic in that in the space of 10 years we decided that the teaching accommodation wasn’t good enough and completely replaced it.”

He added: “I’m happy that the physical environment of the college as I leave it is exactly what I and all my colleagues have worked so hard to achieve.

“Despite frustrations with politicians over the years about proper funding for education, it has been a fantastic job to do and there are many aspects of it which I shall miss enormously.”

The new principal is set to start on September 1.