ONE of the youngest principals to be appointed to run a further education college has taken up her post.

Sarah Farley, 38, has taken over at Darlington College and has responsibility for more than 500 staff and 20,000 students, aged from 16 to 80.

Mrs Farley has worked at the college for five years and is happy to be helping it to expand.

Part of her plans for the future is to increase the number of facilities in the community for learning, including plans to target people working and visiting Darlington Memorial Hospital.

She said: "A priority for me is that we have strong facilities in neighbourhoods.

"We want to give people the first step to learning. We also want to work with business to increase education in the work place.

"Short bite-size segments of learning are the way forward. People's lifestyles don't fit into long courses over weeks any more."

Despite a relatively high turn-over of employers in certain departments, such as information technology, Mrs Farley is confident of being able to retain a core of excellent teachers.

She said: "It is inevitable some staff will move on. We are about training and development here and I see it as a positive that our staff want to move on into the community.

"Many stay in the region so we are investing back into the area. It is for the general good of the area.

"This is the best college I have ever worked in for staff. They are all very experienced, dedicated and positive."

Mrs Farley's immediate plans are to make the college into a centre of excellence by ensuring all the facilities are the best available and providing good vocational opportunities. She also hopes to increase higher education opportunities, as well as facilities for disabled people.