This is the Governance page of the Bellerbys Colleges. Effective Governance is fundamental to the success of Bellerbys and our students.
Our Bellerbys College Advisory Board (BCAB) has two distinguished external members, Barbara Harrison and Durell Barnes, and two senior executives, Mark Cunnington and Vaughan Leyshon. The BCAB meets six times a year and all members undertake regular visits to our individual colleges. The role of the BCAB is to advise the proprietor, Study Group Limited (SGL).
Former CEO of the Girls’ Day School Trust (and previously Education Director), Barbara Harrison is the non-executive Chair of the Bellerbys College Advisory Board. She has a breadth of experience across both private and public sectors, having been responsible for 14-19 education at a national level, served as Assistant Director of Education for a Local Authority and (prior to that) held senior positions in schools over a 20 year period.
Most recently, she served on the Mayor of London’s Education Enquiry, for which she has had an ongoing role in evaluating outcomes, is a Governance consultant for the NGA (National Governors Association), sits on a number of Boards (including having advised one of the Public Exam Boards on standards), and works to support emerging federations, free schools and multi-academy trusts. She is also a former Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) Inspector.
Durell Barnes is a freelance education consultant, specialising in issues relating to safeguarding and governance. He was until recently Head of Communications/Deputy Director of the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) where he was involved in the development of several new inspection frameworks, including the latest, piloted in 2015-6. His responsibilities included quality assurance and safeguarding and involved communication with the Independent Schools Council associations, Ofsted and the Department for Education. Prior to working at ISI, Durell Barnes spent over twenty years teaching in Independent Schools Council schools, for half of which he was a deputy head.
Dr Mark Cunnington is Chief Learning Experience Officer for the UK & Europe at Study Group. He is responsible for Bellerbys College as well as Study Group’s International Study Centres across the UK and Europe, where we prepare thousands of international students for undergraduate and post-graduate university study. As well as sitting on the Bellerbys College Advisory Board, Mark is also a director of the proprietor Board, Study Group Limited.
With over 20 years of commercial and strategic experience across media and education, Mark’s professional expertise is broad and varied. After a successful career as one of The Financial Times’ commercial directors, Mark has worked in the field of education for the last 10 years. Prior to joining Study Group in 2017, Mark ran Pearson South Africa’s higher education business, which included the running of their higher education institution. As Chief Executive Officer he oversaw an institution with 12 campuses, over 9000 students and more than 1000 staff.
Mark has a Master’s degree from the Royal Holloway University London and holds a Doctorate from the University of Liverpool in international Higher Education.
Vaughan joined Study Group in September 2014 as Centre Director for the University of Sussex International Study Centre, having worked in adult and further education for the majority of his career. In January 2020 Vaughan assumed Director level responsibly for Bellerbys College London and Bellerbys College Brighton and at this time he joined Bellerbys College Advisory Board. Vaughan is also responsible for a group of International Study Centres in Study Group’s UK and Europe network, and manages the relationship with a number of our university partnerships.
Before Study Group Vaughan worked as a Director in several further education colleges and private training providers, as well as spending time working for the Funding Agency for further education, and a secondment to the Association of Colleges London region. He has also served as Trustee and Chairman of a local music charity and was a Parent Governor of a secondary school in Brighton.
Vaughan has a modern languages degree and an MBA, as well as numerous teaching and vocational assessment and quality assurance qualifications.
Educational Oversight
Bellerbys is a private further education college, which receives dual educational oversight from the Office for Students and the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s Private Further Education Framework.
Office for Students (OfS)
Established by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the OfS is the government appointed regulator of higher education in England, which operates on behalf of the Department for Education.
The OfS has oversight of Bellerbys higher education provision, which includes the Foundation and International Year One programmes.
Bellerbys appears on the OfS register under the name of the proprietor, Study Group Limited.
Further information about the OfS, including its regulatory framework and the list of registered providers, can be found here.
PFE (Private Further Education) – a division of the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) – is an approved Educational Oversight inspection body authorised by the Home Office to inspect privately funded further education colleges and English language schools in England and Wales.
PFE has oversight of Bellerbys further education provision, which includes A Levels.
Compliance History
Prior to September 2021, Bellerbys operated as a group of independent schools, located in London and Brighton. Educational oversight was provided by ISI.
In the most recent inspections, both schools were determined to be fully compliant in all areas. Both Bellerbys sites were deregistered as schools on 31 August 2021, when OfS and ISI PFE oversight became fully effective.
The proprietor of Bellerbys College is Study Group Limited (SGL), whose registered office is at Britannia House, 21 Station Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4DE. Telephone 01273 339333
Governance of Bellerbys College
For insight into the Governance of Bellerbys College, please download our Bellerbys Governance Procedures.
Chair of the Bellerbys College Advisory Board
To assist in the effective oversight of the Bellerbys Colleges the SGL board of directors has established the Bellerbys College Advisory Board. The Board has a non-executive Chair, Mrs Barbara Harrison.
