This week Johnny Juckes shared the news with the College community that he intends to step down as President/Principal. We ask for your prayers in the coming weeks as we search for a successor to Johnny.

Having been in the role for over five years, some weeks ago Johnny asked the College Council to begin looking for a successor to develop and oversee the College's strategy for the next season.

Johnny says:

Although I will be leaving, I will be praying for God's next leader for Oak Hill, a fresh leader for the next five years, who will bring new energy and different gifts to the task that lies ahead

We are of course very grateful to Johnny for the way the College has developed over the last few years, and are pleased that he will remain in post until his successor assumes the role at the start of the new academic year in Autumn 2023.

The search process is being led by the College Council, with the involvement of staff and students.

There will be opportunities to say much more at the point of transition but, for the moment, please do pray for the Lord to raise up the right person for the next phase of the College's life, and wisdom for us to know who that is.

Jeremy Anderson

Chairman of the College Council

31 March 2023

Earlier this month we announced that Johnny Juckes will be leaving his role as College President. We want to be clear that he is leaving because he feels it is the right time to go, and not because the College Council (the governing body) has asked him to. Neither has the governing body given him any warnings, formal or informal, during his time with us.

However, since there has been some speculation, for everybody’s sake, we want to provide some background in order that there can be clarity and confidence in what has happened.

As his employers we affirm that Johnny has brought many strengths to the life of the College for which we are truly grateful. We will speak further of those and celebrate them in due course.

It is also true that, over the course of time, issues to do with Johnny’s leadership were raised. It is not the case that everyone who worked closely with Johnny felt this, but others rightly used the College's routine processes of review and reporting to highlight issues they saw with his leadership effectiveness, or how he handled particular situations and interactions. Typically, these concerns were raised when people were invited to contribute to appraisals, or through the appropriate channels of management, or personally with him.

Those concerns do not include issues of scandal, nor are they of a safeguarding nature. But they did identify areas where Johnny should change or develop his approach, and his handling of certain situations.

The College Council put in place various mechanisms to help Johnny address these areas, and also support the development of the leadership team overall. He gladly embraced that process, and progress was being made. But last autumn, as he reflected back on the progress of the last five years, and how he and the College would need to continue to change for it to thrive in the future, he came to the conclusion that a fresh leader was needed to lead the College forward into its next season.

The Council felt it right to accept his decision to step down, while remaining very grateful for all Johnny's hard work and significant contributions to the College through very challenging times.

It has been reported that there has been conflict or even warfare at College. We do not know the source of that comment, but we want to affirm that any concerns have been raised appropriately, and that there has not been hostility or in-fighting amongst College staff or students.