"I am the Principal for Dilston College and I have responsibility for strategic oversight of education and care, supported by our Vice Principal for Education and our Head of Care. I have worked in education for over 23-years, my previous roles included Vice Principal, Head of School, Senior Manager for Curriculum and Quality, Higher Education Lecturer and Further Education Lecturer. I am passionate about person-centred learning and making Dilston an amazing place for our young people to prepare for adulthood."

‘’I have worked in the High Needs sector for over twenty years, I am also qualified up to post graduate level in Education (Special Education Needs, Disability and Inclusive Practice). I have had many years of managing and developing Post-16 Study Programmes to meet the individual needs of young people in line with the EHCP outcomes and I am passionate about helping our young people reach their full potential!’’

My name is Rick Johnson and I am the Head of Care at Dilston college.  I have over 25 years of experience working in the social care sector with adults and young people with various levels of need.

I began my professional life as a support worker and since have held various positions including training and quality roles, management and senior management roles and most recently running a Dementia care charity.

Since joining Dilston college I have had the pleasure of integrating into a fabulous team, caring for and supporting some amazing young people at that exciting phase of life, beginning their journey into adulthood which is a true privilege to be part of.

The strong person centred ethos of Cambian Group and the constant drive to secure the best outcomes for our students aligns perfectly with my value base and am excited to continue my own journey at our wonderful college.

Janice has over two decades of experience in special education, supporting children and young adults with complex needs. Janice holds postgraduate qualifications in autism, together with experience of many specific teaching techniques and strategies to ensure that young people with complex needs are happy, safe and making educational, social and emotional progress. 

Throughout her career, she has extensive experience in tailoring both the curriculum and learning environment to maximise the progress each student makes towards their EHCP outcomes, with every opportunity to reach their full potential.

Catherine has worked at Cambian Dilston College for over 10 years, and joined the Transitions team in 2019. Her role is to co-ordinate each student’s transition during their time at Dilston, and then out of college, working extensively with the student, their parents/carers, school staff and external agencies to ensure this is successful.  Catherin’s focus is to provide the best outcomes for our young people as they prepare for their next steps.      

David has worked for Dilston College since January 2021, starting first as a Support Worker before progressing into a role to support administration on site.  His working life began in 1983 when he joined the Royal Air Force in the Logistics branch.  Primarily working as a Hotel Manager.  On leaving the RAF in 2007 after completing a BSc (hons) Degree in Hospitality Management.  David has spent the period up to 2021 working in customer facing roles in both the corporate and private sectors in Hotel Management and Facilities Management gaining further qualifications in Facilities Management to support his practical experience. 

 David is passionate about delivering exceptional customer service to all stakeholder both inside and outside of the organisation.

Lizzie Sykes is a consultant occupational therapist who joined Cambian Group in 2021 and began overseeing Dilston College in November 2023. She has been practicing occupational therapy since 2011 and obtained formal qualifications in 2018. She has worked exclusively in children’s services since qualifying. Prior to this, she worked within forensic and secure mental health services with both adults and young people as an occupational therapy technician. She gained experience working in a variety of different health teams across the UK, including West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Alpha Hospitals, Harrogate and District NHS Trust, and Care Tech Autism Services Limited.

 Lizzie's children’s occupational therapy roles include being part of the multidisciplinary team working with children and young people up to 25 years old with mild, moderate, and complex health and developmental needs in special and mainstream schools, nurseries, homes, clinics, and ward settings. Her more recent experience includes leading the occupational therapy provision across two specialist settings for children and young people with a primary diagnosis of autism across Cambian school and college sites.

Her qualifications and learning include a first-class honours degree in occupational therapy (Bachelor of Science), the Royal College of Occupational Therapists approved Essential Skills for Paediatric Occupational Therapy, assessment and treatment approaches for young people with developmental coordination disorder, positive behaviour management, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) levels one and two, Makaton levels one and two, and interoception Curriculum.

Lizzie is Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered and is a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) Specialist Section for Children, Young People, and Families. She attends regular seminars for continued professional development and keeps an electronic record as evidence. The HCPC in the UK is set up to protect the public. HCPC only registers professionals who meet their standards for training, professional skills, and behaviour.

Lizzie values play and leisure based occupations and brings a variety of creative and active skills to the role which include music, art and mountain biking. She is also a fully qualified rebound therapist and can deliver WInstrada trampolining grades 1-3. Her goal within school and college is to promote participation in meaningful and purposeful occupations to increase health and wellbeing of both students and their support networks.

"I have undergone three Business Administration apprenticeships and achieved numerous other industry specific and technical qualifications whilst working full-time in various roles in Education for over two decades. I have an extensive experience in customer care and was previously responsible for many client accounts on a global scale. I have only been in my role a short amount of time however, I know that Dilston is a special place and I am looking forward to becoming part of its rich history."

I am a Team Leader here at Dilston College.  I have been at Dilston college for 4 years and have the responsibilities of providing leadership to residential support worker staff and accommodations within the site to support our great team and amazing young people.

We all work together as one team across residential and education to get the best out of all students, promoting and maintain independence to help our young people strive when they move on from Dilston.

Outside of Dilston College I do farming as a hobby on my friends farm which I have done for 6 years, working with Beef cattle and Sheep.

Hilary has had the pleasure of working at Cambian Dilston College for over 17 years. She was employed as a Learning Support and then moved into a job coaching role before finally undertaking her current role as Admissions and Marketing Officer.

The main aspects of her role are to promote the college to prospective students, parents and other parties, and to facilitate the assessment and admissions process for all new students. She loves the variety of her role and really enjoys the contact with students, families and professionals throughout the whole process.

I’ve been part of the team at Dilston since 2024. I joined as a teaching assistant before moving into the inclusion officer role. My experience is with primarily with young children and older adults in various settings.  

My role involves providing inclusive enrichment activities for students such as running a youth club on a Wednesday, organising a Harry Potter themed World book Day event, or providing one to one activities for students.

I also run the student council where I help students to have their thoughts and opinions heard.

I’m passionate about helping others and I’ve always wanted to work in care and education.

In my spare time, I enjoy lake swimming and go regularly to the Lake District and Scotland to take part in events.

I am a speech and language therapist who first joined Cambian Group in 2021. I left in 2023 to work for the NHS and returned in February 2025 as lead consultant speech and language therapist (SaLT) for the North.

In this role, I provide speech, language, and communication assessment and intervention to the young people at Dilston college, and am also responsible for overseeing the delivery of SaLT provision in Cambian’s Northern schools and colleges.

I have been a qualified speech and language therapist since 2018 and have worked with children, young people, and adults in a range of settings, both independent and NHS. The majority of my experience has been in learning disability, autism, and complex needs, with specific focus and interest in behaviour as communication, Downs Syndrome, and neurodiversity affirming practice. 

My qualifications include an honours degree in speech and language therapy (Bachelor of Science), and I have completed further training in the areas of Downs Syndrome (SYMBOL UK), Shape Coding (Susan Ebbels), Stammering (Michael Palin Centre), Makaton (Levels 1-4), Natural Language Acquisition and Gestalt Language Processing (Northern Speech Services), Selective Mutism, and SCERTS (Autism UK).

I am Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered and I am a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therpists (RCSLT). The HCPC in the UK is set up to protect the public. HCPC only registers professionals who meet their standards for training, professional skills, and behaviour.

I value the developing evidence and information we are gaining from autistic individuals and those with disabilities, and strive to embed this evidence in my practice. I promote communication through any means and ensure that a young person’s communication plan has goals in the areas of agency, acceptance, autonomy and advocacy, developed collaboratively with them and the people who know them best.