Meet Nikki Knights, Our New Learning Manager in Bournemouth for Service Industries

Nikki Knights, our new Learning Manager for Hospitality and Catering, Beauty Therapy, Media Make Up, and Hairdressing, has great plans for the future of the department already; and within her sights the development of higher-level learning for the faculty.

Nikki brings over 30 years’ experience in the FE sector, having worked across England and Wales, including London, Bath and Pembrokeshire. She started her career as a full-time lecturer, with the last ten years spent with SEND Learning, Inclusion and Support. She has previously worked in Business Support before moving to Curriculum, so is well versed in the whole aspect of an FE College and its workings.

Nikki’s most recent role is from a Land-based College as Head of Faculty, working with students and animals such as trainee farmers, and a whole menagerie including donkeys, iguanas and llamas, amongst other animals, reptiles and livestock. In Swindon, where she worked before joining us: “great working with students and animals, so interesting and so enjoyable. We used to have students in a lot earlier, milking cows in the holidays and getting ready for the harvest.”

Asked about her transition to Bournemouth and Poole College, she said: “It’s interesting working here and getting the lay of the land, understanding how the college does things as compared to other colleges I have worked in. The chef programmes are really good, for example.”

As a Learning Manager at our Bournemouth campus, Nikki shared her excitement for the new building to be completed and for students to start using the state-of-the-art equipment and rooms. She said: “I’m really excited to moving students into new rooms and taking them to the next level in the new restaurant and beauty suite.” She is also looking forward to building a stronger and more cohesive department and is changing up the exam board overseeing the qualifications, as it is more community-focussed. She is also looking to create further value for students, giving them the skills to leave ready for employment.

“We’re hoping to grow the Chefs programme and to hopefully become a Centre of Excellence.”

In her spare time, Nikki works with animal rescue charities and in conservation areas. She has five failed-foster rescue cats. In 2015, she performed Reiki to a Pride of Lions in South Africa, and says: “There is nothing quite like the roar of a lion in the wild.”