FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Lord Woolley of Woodford

So, after being in my role for over a year – one year, three months, and three days to be precise

I finally know everything there is to know about being Homerton’s Principal. Well, no, not quite!

Ido now know what most of the College and University acronyms mean: UTOs (University Teaching Officers), CTOs (College Teaching Officers), COG (College Officers’ Group) and HUS (Homerton Union of Students). I know that all Cambridge University May Balls, including our own, are in fact in June. Equally our Christmas dinner for students is in November. Traditions, eh!

Over the past year I pride myself in knowing the vast majority of first names of our 200+ plus staff, including more than a few other Simons, and I broadly understand the reason for the 18 or so College committees which help keep this wonderful place running. Although I’ve got a feeling that some may merge into others or be dropped completely.

But the real beauty about this role is that it really isn’t a fixed role, it’s ever-changing, and in truth, no one day ever looks the same.

This is a high-pressure job, but I never thought I would love this role so much. I mean, I loved my last high-pressure role as head of Operation

Black Vote, but that was with many more negative challenges, such as dealing with deaths in police custody, school exclusion, and a shocking immigration policy. It’s difficult to love that part of a campaigner’s work.

In contrast, here at Homerton, alongside making sure everything is running smoothly (well, relatively smoothly at least), the greatest part of this job is, in no small measure, to encourage and inspire some of the brightest, most creative and loveliest students on the planet. I also get to listen to and challenge the extremely bright research fellows and ask them about, for example, dark matter and why we should care about it. Or other exciting conversations around outreach, and how we can forge a partnership between Homerton, East London – where we came from 250 years ago –and Homerton, Cambridge. Watch this space.

Part of my role is also to help sew a golden thread between Homerton’s past and present that helps build a brighter future. For example, this past year I spent two days listening to Homerton alumni, mainly women, about how their lives were transformed here, and how they went on to transform the lives of thousands of the students they taught after leaving Homerton. Many went on to run schools. These are several generations of women who broke glass ceilings wherever they went, and I’m determined to tell their stories not just to empower a new cohort of women today, but also young men too . My default line, here, is to empower this generation to feel they too can change the world in many positive ways, much like these women did.

So, in this role as Principal, you simply can never know everything because there’s so much unexplored, and along with scoping out new and exciting projects, it often feels like every day is a learning day.

I love that! n