Weston College has started the new academic year with an interim boss as the hunt for a permanent successor to England’s former best-paid principal, Sir Paul Phillips, drags on.
Jacqui Ford has been appointed acting principal and chief executive until at least March 2024 following multiple failed attempts to fill the post left by Phillips, who retired over the summer after two decades as leader of the south-western college.
But questions remain over whether Phillips has stayed on at the college in a newly created and remunerated role as president, as previously announced to staff earlier in the year.
The college is now staying tight-lipped over the presidential position after concerns were allegedly raised by prospective successors of the principalship in the past academic year, which a local union leader claimed was “creating a crisis at the college”.
