Norton Radstock College Principal, Shirley Arayan, is to retire at the end of November from the role she has held for nearly sixteen years, it has been announced.
Shirley made the decision to retire at the beginning of the year and the date was formally announced by Chair of Governors, Chris Dando, this week.
Mrs Arayan, who began her career at the college as a lecturer in January 1986, has overseen a transformation of the college site, culminating in the multi-million development opened at the start of the 2013 academic year.
Mr Dando said: "The Governors would like to thank Shirley for the significant contribution that she has made to the college and would like to wish her a long and happy retirement."
Mrs Arayan has been a member of the Local Learning and Skills Council, Chair of the West of England Principals' Group, Chair of the Smaller Colleges' Federation, a board member of Learning South West, a board member of PEOPLE, which provides ex-offenders with positive learning experiences and a member of the Bath and North East Somerset Learning and Skills Council.
The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-two said she is looking forward to a holiday before enjoying time gardening. She said: "When I arrived at the college there were 42 wooden huts on the site and one hundred 16–18-year-olds enrolled; now we have purpose built buildings and 800 plus students, including apprentices.
"I enjoy talking to the students the most; there is a perception that teenagers are awful and that's not true – we have some really great students here. I've seen different generations of the same family at the college and quite often I'm stopped by people who say, 'do you remember me? You changed my life'."
Mrs Arayan, who started teaching part-time when her own children were small, also worked at South Bristol College before moving to Norton Radstock College as a lecturer in Health and Community Care in 1986. She worked as Vice-Principal to four others, before becoming Principal in 1999 and says: "My achievements in Further Education over the last few years are closely linked to the achievements of the college.
"I decided at the beginning of the year that the time was right to retire after we officially opened the purpose built facility for engineering and motor vehicle courses, as well as providing a student social space and café. The Governors have agreed to me starting my retirement on November 30th to facilitate future planning."
The Interim Principal will be the college's current Vice-Principal, Henry Logan.