EDUCATION
Making a Difference
( a poem to be read aloud )
Happy – adopted Teessider Lesley Graham is enjoying her time as executive principal at Stockton Riverside College .
A1 like the back of my hand .”
But during lockdown in 2021 , she and husband Andrew relocated to the Tees Valley .
She says : “ The people are so friendly – when I lived in Chelmsford I hardly knew my neighbours .
“ Up here , we live in a village and know everyone ! Moving here is one of the best things we ’ ve ever done .”
But what were her initial impressions of Stockton Riverside College ?
“ It was very well organised – the people were nice and I gelled straight away with the senior management team ,” recalls Lesley .
“ I liked the way the college was run and the fact we were becoming a group . They had just merged with Redcar and Cleveland College and , already incorporating Bede Sixth Form College , NETA Training and The Skills Academy , adopted the Etc . name in 2019 .”
With higher education provision , T levels and executive leadership of Bede all part of her remit , Lesley also sits on the Town Deal board , which recently approved the relocation of NETA Training from its current premises off Portrack Lane in Stockton to a site next to Stockton Riverside College .
Building work is due to start in the summer , with a likely opening date of late 2025 or early 2026 , but NETA will retain its own identity , despite its proximity to the main campus .
Inclusivity is also hugely important to her , she says – and the college is about to prove it in a pioneering way .
She explained : “ We have a big contingent of ESOL students ( English for Speakers of Other Languages ), and we are working
We are shaking and waking and breaking indifference We are quaking and taking and making a difference We are working observing recording researching Wherein we ’ re conferring subverting referring We ’ re counting the minutes the moments the loss Redressing the balance addressing the cost We are citing and fighting it ’ s all in the writing The spark is igniting in dark we are lightening We are breaking the brackets the fact is the planet ’ s In rackets and rackets of rackets in brackets The systems the victims the damning the scamming The biased predicting the beating and banning The skills we exchange the breaking of chains The actions sustained the makers of change To relentless censors the damned and defenceless Our words are the action the louder reaction When no one is listening we hear When heads turn away we volunteer We work we stand tall we rise up to be counted We climb mountains We are shaking and waking and breaking indifference We are quaking and taking and making a difference
- Lemn Sissay , former Manchester University chancellor
towards becoming , what we believe will be , the first ‘ College of Sanctuary ’ in the North-East .
“ One of the first places sanctuary seekers go to when they arrive is a college or educational institution , because they know it ’ s a safe place for them . We have students who are in here five days a week even though their course is only three days .
“ To be considered for College of Sanctuary status , we ’ ve had to demonstrate it ’ s not just about one department in the college – it ’ s in everything , from the food we offer to the way we cover all cultures .
“ You have to go through a significant process but it means we will be a college that actively promotes inclusivity to all our students .
“ We recognise the importance of providing support and sanctuary for people who may not be as lucky as we are to have been born in a country like ours .”
In her spare time , Lesley enjoys reading , cooking and walking with Andrew – an accomplished musician who once supported Blondie on tour – and their dachshunds , Dylan and Monty .
Then there ’ s her passion for poetry – and that one poem in particular , of course .
She said : “ I grew up in inner-city Liverpool and had two kids by the age of 24 .
“ When I was 30 , I thought ‘ OK , I ’ ve got another 30 years at least in the job market , what am I going to do ?’
“ I went to the local FE college , signed up on a level three business admin course and , after being inspired by people like my amazing tutor , Liz May , I never looked back .
“ Me walking into that college led to me being here today – that ’ s the difference a college can make . It does make such a difference to your life – and if I can do it , anyone can .”
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