Our People

Support staff

 

A number of people and teams enable the College to run effectively and efficiently.

 Helen Archer-Smith

Director of Operations and Finance

Helen Archer-Smith, Director of Operations and Finance. Before coming to Oak Hill, Helen was the Director of Finance at Worcester Diocese Board of Finance, and before that was the Senior Bursar of the West Cavendish group of schools and Bursar at Bredon School. Helen is no stranger to Oak Hill as a portion of her childhood was spent here while her father trained for ministry. Helen combines her faith, experience, skills and commitment to shape the future sustainability of Oak Hill.

Admissions

Rosie Cowan is here to help anyone on the journey from enquiring to applying to beginning their studies at Oak Hill. She is also responsible for events and communication that relate to admissions, including our regular Open Mornings.

View of the Oak Hill academic centre outside

Academic Administration Team

The Academic Administration Team provides support to students and academic staff as it manages the administrative structures that underpin the academic programmes and students’ learning and assessment. Within College, this includes maintaining student records, compiling teaching and exam timetables, organising student assessment, providing disability support, and overseeing the College’s quality assurance processes, such as student feedback.

Externally, they ensure that our academic programmes meet national quality standards set by government, the Church of England, and our validating university, Middlesex University. They also ensure compliance with external higher education regulatory and statutory requirements.

The team is led by Senior Registrar Caroline Hinch, and comprises Tricia O’Gorman, Academic Administration Officer, Zivana Makouga, Quality Assurance & Enhancement Manager and Soulla Christodoulou, Admin Support Assistant.

David Fordyce - Oak Hill Librarian

The Library

Oak Hill Library provides students and staff with the resources needed for teaching and learning. Please find more details here.

The Librarian is David Fordyce, who joined Oak Hill in summer 2021 having previously worked in various roles including Head of Information Services at UK's leading Food and Drink research association, Campden BRI, where his responsibilities included library, databases, publications, membership, and marketing and comms. Outside of work he has always maintained a large collection of C.S Lewis first editions and can be found cycling or trail running.

Oak Hill site manager trimming a bush

Facilities and Site Team

The Oak Hill campus is a wonderful place to live and learn. Day to day this is thanks to the facilities and site team. Catering, housekeeping, buildings upkeep and development, grounds maintenance and reception each have a team of creative and energetic staff working behind the scenes to deliver those key services.

Overall responsibility for the department, for ensuring the safety of staff and students, organising complex work schedules, liaising with specialist contractors, meeting building codes and associated government regulations within budget limitations falls to the Facilities and Site Manager, Isobel Waspe.

View of the Oak Hill ground from inside

Information Technology Office


The IT department is responsible for the smooth running of the College IT infrastructure. This provides support for staff and students as they carry out day to day teaching, study and administrative activities, as well as support of the technology used in lecture rooms and the library. It also provides the technical network support for the College internet, ethernet and WiFi in student study rooms, as well as printing facilities and internet in the College-owned housing accommodation. The IT Officer for Oak Hill College is Anthony Sarpong.

The Oak Hill College building

Finance Office


The Finance Office team comprises a Trust Finance Manager and a Payroll Officer / Finance Assistant. The office is responsible for the billing of student fees, processing payments to students, including bursaries, and collecting student rental and other income; processing all other College payments and income, and the College’s payroll. The Trust Finance Manager is Karen Sparkes and the Payroll Officer is Sammie Ranasinghe.