College principals, WorldSkills winners and a senior government official are among the FE representatives recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Julian Appleyard and Pauline Hagen, principals of Rochdale Sixth Form College and New College Pontefract respectively, were both appointed OBE.

John Hyde, executive chairman of provider HIT Training, was appointed CBE, as was Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.

Bobbie McClelland, deputy director for reforming FE provision at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis), was also appointed OBE, while three gold-medal winners from WorldSkills 2015 in Sao Paulo - Rianne Chester (pictured), Gary Doyle and Edward Harringman - will receive the British Empire Medal. Christian Notley, training manager for Team UK at the Worldskills competitions in 2013 and 2015, and head of furniture studies at Chichester College, was also appointed MBE.

Former TES FE Awards leader of the year Mhairi Harrington, principal of West Lothian College, and Mark White, chair designate of Stockton Riverside College and a Trustee of the Education and Training Foundation, were also appointed OBE.

Since opening in 2010, Rochdale Sixth Form College has been rated outstanding by Ofsted and topped national progress tables for three consecutive years.

Mr Appleyard said: “It is truly humbling. My honour is testament to the superb team I have at the college. My staff and governing body are incredibly committed and our success is very much a joint effort.”

New College Pontefract is the first sixth-form college to be granted permission to open a free school. The free school in Doncaster is due to open in September 2017. Ms Hagen told TES: “I am delighted and very proud. It’s about my team at NEW College. The whole team has been brilliant over the last five years.”

Ms McClelland said that she was “surprised and delighted to receive this award, which is recognition of the contribution made by all those I have worked with to support further education”.

A Bis spokesperson said: “We are delighted that Bobbie has been awarded this well-deserved honour, in recognition of her work on further education. Bobbie has been instrumental in the drive to ensure this vibrant sector creates life changing opportunities for learners and delivers the skills our economy needs to grow.”

Mr Hyde is a member of the board of directors at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. Chief executive Mark Dawe told TES: “Thousands of young people have been set on their way to successful careers in the hospitality industry because of the high quality training that John’s companies have provided, so his award is greatly deserved. 

“His passionate interventions in policy debates have always come from the right place - doing what’s best for our young people.”

Mr Notley described being awarded an MBE as a “huge honour”. “I am passionate about the value of vocational training and apprenticeships as being equal to academic courses, so it’s great to have skills training recognised in the honours list and hopefully this will help others to realise its value as well,” he said.

At last summer’s WorldSkills competition, Ms Chester became the UK’s first ever competitor to receive the prestigious Albert Vidal Award, which is awarded for the most points scored in the whole competition.

She said: “It was such a shock when I found that I had been awarded the British Empire Medal, I simply couldn’t believe it!  Since winning my gold ,edal at WorldSkills I have been focusing on building my own business, Beauty by Rianne, and this is a great way to finish what has been an amazing twelve months. I hope this national recognition of skills will help show young people just how successful you can be by completing an apprenticeship or a vocational training programme.”    

Here is the full list of recipients from the FE and skills sector:

CBE

Margaret Serna 

Chair, board of corporation, Lincoln College, and managing director, Thames Group (UK) Ltd. For services to further education.

Malcolm Trobe 

Interim general secretary, the Association of School and College Leaders. For services to education.

John Hyde 

Executive chairman, HIT Training. For services to the further education and training sectors.

OBE

Bobbie McClelland 

Deputy director for reforming FE provision, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. For services to further and vocational education.

Julian Appleyard 

Principal, Rochdale Sixth Form College. For services to education.

Alison Boulton 

Formerly chief executive Association of National Specialist Colleges. For services to Education.

Pauline Hagen 

Principal, New College Pontefract. For services to education.

Mhairi Harrington 

Principal and chief executive, West Lothian College. For services to Education.

Anthony Larkin 

Formerly director of business and enterprise, Royal National College for the Blind. For services to further education and disability sport.

Enid Teasdale 

Formerly chair of governors, Barnsley College. For services to education in South Yorkshire.

Seyi Obakin

Chief executive, Centrepoint, and commissioner, UKCES. For services to youth skills, employment and homelessness.

Mark White

Chair designate, Stockton Riverside College. For services to education particularly in Teesside.

MBE

Keith Brown

Chair of governors, College of North East London. For services to further education.

Alan Jerome

Life president, Bradford Grammar School and lately vice-chair of corporation, Bradford College. For services to education.

Sally Obertell

Director of marketing, relationships and communications, John Ruskin College. For services to education.

George Smith

Manager, extended learning support, West College Scotland. For services to extended learning support in further education.

Jennifer Johnson

Chief executive officer, Kids Allowed. For services to apprenticeships.

Christian Notley

UK Training manager, Worldskills. For services to the WorldSkills competitions in Leipzig 2013 and Sao Paulo 2015.

British Empire Medal

Rianne Chester

Worldskills 2015 gold medal winner in beauty therapy. For services to skills.

Gary Doyle

Worldskills 2015 gold medal winner in plumbing and heating. For services to skills.

Edward Harringman

Worldskills 2015 gold medal winner in cabinet making. For services to skills.

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