College Welcomes New Principal Kevin Standish

New Principal Kevin Standish joins Sutton College with an established background in education.

Born locally in Carshalton, Kevin has an International Business Degree from the University of Brighton, and postgraduate qualifications in Education and a diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

His first education position was at Bournemouth and Poole College, teaching professional qualifications in management and marketing and over his 26 year career in education, he has worked for various colleges including Bridgwater College in Somerset, East Surrey College in Redhill and John Ruskin College South Croydon where he was Principal.

Kevin’s philosophy is that working in education is a privilege and that all who do should aspire to deliver the best possible experience for the communities that we serve. His 5-year plan for Sutton College starts with working closely with residents, employers and the Council to establish what courses and training all would like to see offered and then to provide these. Our future offer will include additional apprenticeships, many more skills-based courses that will help adults to take-up new employment opportunities and gain new skills. We will be expanding the number of English language courses for speakers of other languages to satisfy growing demand and will be providing courses that support adults to progress to university level study. We also expect that an increasing number of courses will be delivered on-line which will help adults that struggle to get into our classrooms to still be able to access high quality education.

Kevin has been meeting students to discuss their experience at Sutton College

Alongside these academic and skill-based courses, the College will be adding to its renowned and wide range of leisure, pleasure and hobby courses in creative arts and crafts, languages and other specific interest areas so that residents can follow their passion, make new friends or reconnect with old friends. Finally, we have started the exciting work of planning for the relocation of Sutton College to a new location in the high street that will provide state of the art facilities and should be completed in 2026.

Outside of work, Kevin’s sporting passion was playing for Carshalton Volleyball Club, competing in Surrey, London and National leagues and then for Hastings and Eastbourne volleyball clubs when living in East Sussex.